I Am Not a Prisoner
by Haitani
Summary: What would you do if you were working one night and were suddenly surrounded by hostile strangers? Would you run? Would you cry? Would you strip naked and do the macarena? *done*
1. Non sono what?!

**Prologue**

**            It was a warm June evening somewhere in Japan. Things were pretty peaceful; a gentle breeze was blowing and crickets could be heard chirping faintly in the distance. It was quite a beautiful picture. That was until a loud spurt of insane laughter drowned out this picturesque scene and left small animals scurrying for shelter. Inside a public library we see who caused this disturbance.**

**"It's here! BWA HA HA HA! I can't belief it's finally here!", yells a young girl with  long dark green hair and brown eyes.**

**"SHHHHH" pretty much everyone else in the library whispers. The girl then proceeds to bow her head, ashamed at her outburst.  She had been looking for this one book on   early medieval cultures and at last (after being out for about three weeks) it finally came in. She had a socials project due in three days, and if she didn't get at least a B on it her mother would kill her. **

**            The girl admired the book briefly, running the thick and dusty dark red cover over her fingers.  She opened the book and looked at the stained yellow pages that  smelled old. You can't quite describe it, it's just an old smell. In between the pages, placed somewhere in the middle of a book is a bookmark attached to the book itself. It was made out silk, and was the same colour as the cover. On the bottom of the bookmark was a large stone, _probably amber_ the girl thought. It was round and smooth and about as thick as three quarters placed on top of each other.  To the top, bottom, left, and right of the stone were four smaller stones, about one eighteenth the larger one's size. All five stones were an amber colour, and were extremely smooth.**

**            _Enough goofing around,_ the girl said to herself,_ I gotta start this otherwise I'll never finish it!_**

**            While taking notes on early Italy, she glanced at an illustration of a giant statue that was in the courtyard of one of the more influential nobles. Apparently it had stood there since the Roman Empire. The statue depicted a woman with long flowing robes standing and looking up. She had shoulder length hair that curled at the bottom. Right by the woman's bare feet stood a caption, and the girl struggled to read it.**

**" No….non sssso……..non sono….non sono…non sono re….Non sono reus!(1)" the girl exclaimed loudly, proud at being able to decipher what earlier looked like chicken scratches.  No sooner than the words left her mouth than a smouldering white light shot out from where appeared to be nowhere, blinding (she couldn't see the glares the rest of the people in the library had given here for calling out that had changed to wide eyed expressions of fear and shock) and engulfing the girl. If she had been able to see, perhaps she would have noticed that the necklace she wore was also shining a hot, bright white. **

**            When the light finally dissipated, the girl found herself outside across from a campfire with three other individuals surrounding it staring at her and in the lap of a very startled chimera.**

**************

**(1) ****This is a mixture of Latin and Italian. Originally I'd planned to have it all in Latin, but the only online dictionary I could find wasn't helping at all and the only word I could find was reus. So I got frustrated and went to an English-Italian dictionary instead since Italian is the closest thing to Latin and got the non sono. In all it means I'm not a prisoner. **


	2. Don't let Gourry explain what a mazoku i...

***Author's notes* Hooray! I finally got the first chapter done. I'm soo tired, it's like three in the morning. The story's going kinda slow right now, but it'll pick up in the next few chapters. This is my first fanfics so please read and review, also don't hesitate to email me with constructive criticism. No flames please. My e-mail's sore_wa_himitsu_desu@telus.net   Ja!   **

**-Haitani**

**Disclaimer: Slayers characters do not belong to me. I'm too lazy to actually find out who they belong to, I think it's Softx and Rui Aruizumi and some other people. Kami, however, does belong to me.**

Chapter 1 

**     The girl quickly leaps out of the chimera man's lap. Staring in horror around her she notices the other three had quickly risen and one had drawn a sword. **

**"Where the hell am I?!" the girl yelled almost hysterically.**

**"Who are you and how did you get here? Are you mazoku?" a petite red haired girl loudly inquired. The others didn't say much but they were all in battle stance. The girl unconsciously took a step back.**

**"M-My name's Kami and I don't know how I got here!" Kami said with little teardrops forming in the corners of her eyes. But she refused to actually cry in front of these strangers. "What's a mazoku?"**

**     The others looked at each other and then returned suspicious glares at Kami. "How can anyone except Gourry not know what a mazoku is?" the short red haired woman asked.**

**"Linaaaaaa," the blond one whined, "I know what a mazoku is" he said rather proudly.**

**"I don't trust you, not until you can properly explain yourself" the red haired one, who Kami learned was called Lina said. **

**"Well then give me a chance," Kami said. "I was in the library researching for a socials project. I looked at a picture, read some funny words, then a hot, bright, white light shot out from who knows where and poof, I'm in that guy's," she turns around and looks at the man beside her, "lap." And with that word she slightly blushes. Still looking at the man whom she landed on, Kami gets quite the shock. She notices that he has light blue skin with tiny dark pebbles scattered across it. _Pebbles? That can't be right!_ Turning her head quickly as not to stare she looks back at Lina, who's eyeing her curiously. **

**"That's a pretty farfetched story, how do you expect me to believe it? Further more, what is 'socials'?"**

**Now it was Kami's turn to be suspicious. "You don't know what socials is? How could you not know what socials is?"**

**"That's not the point, what about you story?" Lina said.**

**"That's exactly how it happened," Kami replied.**

**"What words did you say?" The stone man, who until now had remained quiet (excluding his squeal of surprise when Kami first dropped into his lap) inquired. Everyone turned to look at him. "I figure that's probably what got you over here, since according to your story after you said them the light appeared and you…um… landed on me," while saying this his face turned slightly red.**

**"Um, what did I say? ….Oh yeah! It was non sono reus." She said. Immediately after her necklace began to glow and poof she materialized in the library again. But Kami's joy at returning home was short lived, because she only stayed in the library for about five seconds. Before she could even move it felt as if she was slipping away. As if by an unknown will her body dematerialized. She closed her eyes, fighting off severe nausea. Within a matter off milliseconds she could hear the crackle of the fire and feel the heat it gave off. She also felt what appeared to be the ground she was sitting on had become quite wobbly. Opening her eyes quickly she found she was quite high in the air, and looking down revealed why. She had phased right on top of the stone man's shoulders, who was wobbling unsteadily, trying to regain his balance after having an unexpected weight pop on to him. Unfortunately, he failed miserably and they both came crashing down, landing mere inches away from the hissing fire.**

**"What the hell?" they both said at the same time. Kami rolled of him, and clutching her stomach proclaimed she was going to be sick. No one really said anything while Kami lay on the ground trying desperately not to lose her dinner. When she had her stomach under control, she sat glanced up and them look that was combined with anger, frustration, sorrow, and humour. "I guess I'm back"**

**"Hold on a sec, I need to talk with everyone. Gourry, keep an eye on her," Lina ordered. The stone man, Lina, and another woman gathered around in a little circle a little ways ahead, while Kami was left with the tall, blond, sword wielding (he hadn't had a chance to sheath it yet) man. **

**"I'm Kami," Kami said, trying not to look too pathetic (it had been a long day!) plastering on a fake grin and outstretching her hand. The blond man didn't notice her mask at all and give her a huge grin. "I'm Gourry! Are you really a mazoku?" he said and shook her hand. As we all can see, Gourry, obviously, has no knowledge of the word "subtle".**

**"_What_ is a mazoku?" Kami asked, slightly exasperated. After all, this is the second time someone has accused her of being something that she has no idea was either good or bad.**

**"Don't worry, I didn't know what a mazoku was until Lina told me," Gourry said compassionately. "They like to hurt and kill people. Pretty hard to kill also. They're big, and ugly, and usually have bad breath. But you're not big and ugly, and I don't think you have bad breath. But Xelloss isn't big or ugly, and he doesn't have bad breath either. But Xelloss is mazoku. But………" Kami watched the blond man's struggle. All she had learned was that mazoku liked to kill. They were big and ugly, but Xelloss, whoever the hell he was, wasn't big and ugly and…..ugh! She was starting to sound like Gourry. **

**     Meanwhile, while Kami and Gourry were having they're "conversation" (I use this word loosely) The other three were having a discussion of they're own. **

**"What are we going to do with her, Lina-san?" The raven-haired young girl asked. "She doesn't seem like a mazoku"**

**"Yeah, well neither did Xelloss," Lina replied.**

**"Did I hear my name?" a particularly cheerful voice belonging to a particularly cheerful man inquired.**

**" Shit Xelloss, you scared the hell out of me! Where did you come from?" Lina practically shrieked.**

**"Sore wa himitsu desu ^_^!"**

**"Damn fruitcake." Lina swore.**

**"Anyways, back to our original topic, Xelloss, is this person a mazoku?" the raven-haired girl inquired.**

**"Good question, Amelia. You'd better answer, and it better not be 'sore wa himitsu desu'" Lina spoke the last words as if they were utter filth and hurt her tongue to pronounce them. **

**     Xelloss sweatdropped then answered. "Nope, that girl's 100% human," he said cheerfully. The others eyed him suspiciously for giving information so freely but decided to let it pass because even if he always told half-truths, he had never actually lied to them. **

**"What do we do about her then, I mean its obvious she's not from around here," Amelia said. "Zelgadiss-san, do you have any ideas?" she turned a starry gaze on the stone man.**

**"Let's just have a talk with her, see how far away she lives and all that," Zelgadiss said, trying to ignore Amelia's Love Rays.  **

**"Alright, let's go!" Lina declared. **

**"So let me get this straight, you come from a place called Toe Ki Yoh. Where's that? How far is it from Sailloon? That might give me a better idea," Lina said. **

**"Sailloon? What country's that in?" Kami inquired. **

**"Country? It's its own kingdom. The white magic capital of the world. Everyone has at least heard of Sailloon," Amelia said.**

**"White magic? Magic doesn't exist, everyone knows that. And kingdom's don't exist anymore, haven't exisisted for at least a hundred and twenty years. What are you talking about?" Kami said, frustration clearly evident on her voice.**

**"Where have you been living your entire life?! Is Toe Ki Yoh the name of a box or something? Magic doesn't exist. Ha! I'll show you some magic!" Lina quipped loudly and prepared a fireball in her hand. "FIREBALL!!" she aimed it a tree near by and then immediately quenched it with a freeze arrow. **

**     Kami took a couple steps back, her eyes opened wide with fear and shock. "W-what the hell did you just do," she said, her voice shaking. Lina didn't quite expect her magic to have quite the effect it did on the girl and said somewhat apologetically, "It's just basic magic, nothing unusual."**

**     "Nothing unusual? You just shot bloody fire and ice from your hands!!!" Kami yelled. This statement completely baffled Lina and Amelia. Gourry is always completely baffled, so he doesn't count. Zelgadiss, who until now had remained silent said, "Perhaps she's from another world?"**

**"It would explain a lot of things, like why she doesn't seem to know ANYTHING, her odd clothing, name, and name of her birthplace." Lina said. Kami was about to comment on how neither her, her clothes or Tokyo was odd but she realised in a land where almost everyone wore a cape, wore skin tight neon pink suits with yellow across the chest, her short cut school uniform must look pretty odd. **

**     By this time, everyone was convinced that Kami posed no threat, so everyone had sat back down around the fire. Xelloss had remained oddly quiet throughout the entire ordeal, just watching with his cheerful mask plastered on his face. After a couple minutes of sitting in silence, absorbing the fire's heat, Kami declared: "I'm gonna try to go home again." Since nobody argued the statement Kami said the sentence, making sure to enunciate and pronounce everything properly.**

**"Non sono reus!" The white light flashed briefly again and she found herself in the library, at the same table where she was before, old book open at the same place, the only difference being there was police tape around the area and she could see police talking to some of the people that were there earlier. But just as last time she was there for only five seconds, not long enough for anybody to notice her. She was slipping from this world fast, and in a vain attempt to fight whatever forces were taking her, she reached out and grabbed the first thing that she could. Then she was phased back into Lina's world. Right onto Zelgadiss' lap. **

**"Oooooohhhh," Kami moaned, fighting down the severe nausea that seemed to always to be a side affect of that method of traveling.  She slowly got of Zel's lap, muttering some apologies. She looked into her hand. _A pen. Great. A whole lot of good that'll do me._ Lina was the first to break the silence.**

**"Guess we got us a new member of the group."**


	3. Welcome to Hotel Dolphin, how may I help...

*Author's notes* I wanna thank the person who told me the proper way to say I'm not a prisoner in Latin. I appreciate it. But since I already have been using non sono reus I'm just gonna keep it at that. Writing this chapter was fun, gave a bit humour into my so far dull Saturday night. My Charmed Sprout of Insight™ for the day: Geese are mean. Very, very mean. You've been warned.

Disclaimer: the Slayers characters are not mine. They belong to their proper creator. Kami is my character so she belongs to me. Thank you!

Chapter 2

          Three months passed quickly for Kami and the rest of the group. Each day she tried to go home, each day she was sent back, right into Zel's lap (or shoulders if he was standing at the time). She didn't even stay in her world for five seconds any more; she was literally there for only half a second. She kept the pen she had snatched in her pocket always, it had become one of her most prized possessions, mainly because it, her school uniform, and her necklace were her only possessions now. No body could understand why she couldn't stay in her home and why every time she came back it was on Zel's lap.

          As a means of self-defence the group had begun to teach her magic. They found with no little astonishment that her capability in this area exceeded what seemed humanly possible. Within the three months she was able to perform shamanism almost equal to Amelia (with the exception of a ra tilt). Then there was black magic, and Lina said her ability there was around that of a second-class sorcerer. One thing that also surprised everyone was her inability to perform white magic. After trying each and every day she still wasn't even able to perform a low-class recovery spell. More mysteries to add to a growing list.

          After spending three months with the group, Kami found herself more attached to some of them than others. Kami felt that perhaps her best friend in the group was Lina, who was almost her complete opposite. Next was Xelloss, who even though she knew all the evil and cruel things he had done (well not _all_ the evil and cruel things, nobody knows them all except Xelloss and the Beastmaster) and that he really didn't care about any of them, she felt she never had to act a certain way around him and could just be herself. She never had to worry about hurting his feelings or would he think she's too weird if she said something odd. Plus she seemed to be the only one with no hang-ups on him being a mazoku (probably cause she still wasn't too sure what one was) and also the only one who found his humour genuinely amusing (why no one else found that answering sore wa himitsu desu to everything wasn't funny was beyond her). Gourry, she found cute and endearing and his blunt honesty was refreshing. She also found that he really wasn't dumb if you picked your conversation topic wisely. Gourry could probably talk about swords all day without stopping and still have a lot to say. Gourry could also talk about Lina. What she liked, what she didn't, and what would probably get you hit for saying (ex. How small a certain individual who shall remain unnamed's breasts are.) Gourry knew all these things; he just always said the first thing that came into his head before he thought about it. Kami noticed the crush the swordsman had for her friend and highly suspected the feelings were mutual. Kami liked Amelia and she recognized the girl's good heart and intentions, but often the utter perkiness Amelia possessed was irritating. Then there was Zelgadiss. She found him very mysterious and exotic. He had this fire about him, and like a moth to a flame she was drawn. She didn't deny she was attracted to him, and popping up into his lap everyday didn't help much either. She didn't know much about him except he liked literature and was determined to find the cure for his condition. Whenever she got into a major depression about not being home and how her family probably considered her dead, he was the best person to hang around because he let her be depressed and didn't a) yell at her for moping like certain foul tempered sorceress did, b) shout some long speech on how love can cross even dimensions and that her parents knew she was okay or, c) dump water on her head or jump around corners and scare her. Gourry was okay to be around too because even though he had no idea what was going on, he recognized that she was depressed and just offered a shoulder to lean on. Kami knew that time passed the same in her world as it did in Lina's because after a couple weeks the police tape had vanished and every time she saw new people. 

          Kami was amazed about the world in which they all lived. Its architecture and technology were very much like the medieval times, but the culture and customs were modern. In exchange for information on magic and such, Kami told them all about her world. They were amazed, Zel in particular, to how her world was run by science. She explained that there was no magic in her world, but they could do a majority of the things magic did with man-made machines. She explained how some simple machines worked and talked of all the complex ones, but she held back a little for two reasons. One, mechanics weren't her strong so she didn't have extensive knowledge and Two, she didn't want to influence their society too much. Sure, telling a group of mercenary bandit killers probably wouldn't change a whole lot but yet again she didn't feel she could trust Xelloss in case he got some wicked idea for a new prank and use her technology against her, or worse yet, unsuspecting locals who had no idea what this stuff was.            

          One afternoon Kami prepared herself to try to go home. She said the words, phased into her world, phased out, and expected to find herself in Zel's lap. Instead she found herself in a cold, wet cave. 

"W-Where am I?" Kami asked in a very confused voice. She looked around and recognised nothing. Startled and lost, Kami took a couple steps forward meaning to look around when a voice halted her.

"Come here, child," a silky voice commanded. "Where are you?" Kami asked, able to hear the voice but not see its source. A figure stepped out of the shadows. It was what appeared to be a woman, with long, flowing blue hair that ended in the middle of her back. She wore a marine halter that covered just what it needed, and a long purple and golden skirt. She also wore lots of jewellery around her neck, in her ears, in her hair, around her arms and ankles. She was bare foot. She looked at Kami with the most startling blue eyes and said in the most serious voice, "Boom didelee boom boom, bum bum."

"Eh?" Kami said, utterly confused at the woman's speech. The woman started cackling viciously, and Kami was surprised that such a small woman could make so much noise. Then she took back her opinion when remembering both Lina and Amelia and thought _this is nothing compared to them._  

          When the woman seemed to be finished her insane spurt of laughter she looked Kami in the eyes and said, "You! I've been waiting to see you for a while, girl," she went on, seemingly having a conversation with herself, "And you got to her before that wench Xellas did, with that spy of hers hanging around she couldn't be up to any good. You're brilliant! I know I'm brilliant, she'll be mine, MINE!!! Oooh, think of all the things we'll do. **What** will we do? We'll do something. Of course we'll do something! But what? Who cares, I'm bored now," the woman went on in her insane one person conversation/rant until Kami interrupted, "Ano, who are you?" 

          The woman stopped talking to herself and glared at Kami, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. "You," she said the word as if it were filth, "can call me Kai-ou." Kami pondered this _Ocean King? Right…_

"Um, Kai-ou-sama," she decided she better use the honorific because she didn't want to anger this being who already seemed one screw too loose, "why am I here?  What do you want with me and who is Xellas?"

"You ask too many questions girl, and you're not as useful as I thought you'd be, you're rather bland too. Be gone! I no longer want you near my presence!" there was a couple moments of silence and a breeze blew through the cave, rippling the ankle deep water that surrounded them. A crap scuttled across the ground, oblivious and in its little crab world, unaware of the two beings who shared its dwelling.  

"Well girl, what are you waiting for? Leave!" Kai-ou shouted, gesturing her arms wildly.

"Um, I can't. You were the one who brought me here." Kami said with a touch of frustration lining her voice.

"Me?"

"Yes you!!"

"Oh that's right, did you enjoy your stay at hotel Dolphin?"

"Eh?"

"Always remember to pack fresh underwear before you slay the dragons!" Kai-ou said in a sing-songy voice as Kami started dematerializing at an alarmingly slow pace. The last thing she heard was the woman's maniacal laughter.

When she reappeared she was at the top of a tree with a bird's nest on her head with two chicks chirping merrily. 

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Kami yelled in rage. The birds were no longer chirping.   


	4. Bananas; a charming little fruit perfect...

*Author's Notes* Here's chapter three. Don't know when I'll be able to write the next chapter, hopefully soon. Damn busy schedule *goes on mumbling about the unfairness of it all* Couldn't help it, put the first names (or former first name in the case of Nobutoshi-san) of a couple of my favourite seiyuu Seki Tomokazu and Nobutoshi Hayashi (now Canna). Review if you like it and want to see more, it always motivates me to write more if I see a positive review. Constructive criticism is always welcome too. If you want you can give me an email at sore_wa_himitsu_desu@telus.net 

Ja!   

Disclaimer: the Slayers characters belong to their proper creators. They are not mine. Kami is a character born from my own imagination hence she is mine.

Chapter Three

Lina-tachi were sitting around, waiting for Kami to return. After ten minutes had passed, they were getting impatient.

"Where is she? I want to get to the nearest town before nightfall. I'm tired of camping out, I want a nice cooked meal and a warm bed!" Lina complained, making Zel roll his eyes at the childish display of immaturity. 

"Maybe she finally was able to go home," Amelia said with a frown. Although she wasn't close friends with Kami, she still liked her and knew the feeling was mutual. Gourry and Zel didn't say anything, Gourry sad that Kami might be gone and Zel being his usual self. He too was sad that she might be going, although he didn't let on. He kept his feelings hidden behind his usual sullen mask. Xelloss looked like he knew something, but he didn't offer the information and everyone knew what asking would result in. _Sore wa himitsu desu!_ Zel could just hear him say. 

          Their contemplation of their missing comrade was abruptly interrupted by a loud shriek of in the distance. Being the heroes that they were (and Xelloss the tag along he was) they broke of in a run in the direction the scream had come. 

          Kami sat high on top of some tree. She was **not** a happy camper._How the hell am I gonna get down! I could KILL that Kai-ou lady right about now!_ She thought angrily. After a couple minutes of contemplation she brightened up immediately. _I can fly! I forgot about that. _As she carefully stood up (and removed the bird's nest from the top of her head) she noticed something else in on the tree. Sitting back down she examined it. It was a staff, identical to Xelloss'. They only difference was that instead of having a red gem, hers was a light sky blue. _How odd,_ she thought. _Must be a gift from Kai-ou. After that lousy treatment it's the least she could do. I swear, she's a few fries short of a Happy Meal._ Picking up the staff she resumed her previous activities. She stood up wobbly, the shouted "Ray Wing!" As the bubble floated gracefully down to the ground, she noticed her friends approaching at a rapid pace. _They must have heard my, uh, exclamation._

"Kami!!" Lina and Amelia shouted at the same time. Gourry had a big smile plastered on his face, Xelloss had his usual smile on his face, and the tips of Zel's lips were turned up, forming what almost resembled a smile.

"We thought you'd gone home! What happened? Why were you on top of that tree? Why did you yell like that? Why do you have that staff? Where'd it come from? Wh--" Amelia gushed out, like someone just broke the dam of an overflowed river. 

"Hold on a minute Amelia! I can only answer one question at a time!" Kami interrupted, chuckling softly.

"Sorry… I was just glad to see you came back," Amelia said softly.

"It's okay, don't worry. Anyways, to answer your questions, something extremely puzzling happened. Maybe you guys," Kami said, looking mainly at Lina, Zel, and Xelloss, "could clear it up since I still don't know much about your world and its inhabitants. Let's get comfy first."

          They walked back to their camp and sat around the fire pit, even though it was too early in the day to have a fire on. It was more habit from when they usually sat around the fire evenings to tell stories or recount past adventures to people who had not witnessed them. They (it was pretty much only Lina since Gourry couldn't remember them if his life depended on it and Zel was pretty much himself, quiet and reserved, only adding or correcting a detail when Lina missed something) told Kami, Amelia, and Xelloss (even though he probably knew them anyway) about adventures when it was only the three of them. 

          Kami retold how she went into her world, faded out, and expected to find herself back in camp. Instead, she found herself in a cave, water swirling around her ankles. "My socks are still soaked," she said for emphasis, pointing down at her wet feet. She told them how she saw this mysterious lady with blue hair and blue eyes who was calling herself Kai-ou. At the mention of this everyone noticed Xelloss sit jump slightly, open his eyes briefly, then close them again and resume his cheerful charade. He was furious with himself for letting his façade slip, but he had been so totally surprised that Kai-ou had took Kami it just slipped. In fact, he was surprised that Kai-ou was even sane enough to pay attention to the outside world.

"She looked at me all serious and said 'Boom didelee boom boom, bum bum.'" When seeing the confused looks her companions gave her she continued, "I was completely confused. Then she started cackling a horrible laugh. She went on to have a complete conversation to herself. All I remember was she said some Xellas person had a spy around us. Do you know who that is?" 

          All eyes turned to Xelloss who sweat dropped. "Yare yare….." he said

"Xellas is Xelloss' boss," Lina explained. 

"Not just my boss!" said Xelloss with mock indignation. "She's one of three remaining Dark Lords who answer only to Shabranigdo-sama and the Lord Of Nightmares herself!" he said proudly, one foot on a stump and the other pointing to the heavens, a position that reminds one horribly of Amelia in a justice pose. "She's the Greater Beast, Juu-ou Xellas Metallium, Mistress of Wolf Pack Island, Lady of the Wild, Predator o--," Xelloss was interrupted by Lina bashing her elbow into his skull, making him lose balance and fall of the stump.

"That's enough, Xelloss. She gets the point!" Lina exclaimed loudly. 

"You're here to spy on us?" Kami asked, arching an eyebrow, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I wouldn't say spy," Xelloss said nervously, backing up a bit. He knew all too well the wrath of a pissed woman, and although he liked the pain, it was still scary.

"What would you say, Xelloss-chan?" Kami said with a forced sweet voice. All those in close proximity unconsciously took a step back.

"Um… I'd say that… I was watching and making sure you guys don't hurt yourselves," he proclaimed.

"You're the one who gets us in most of our troubles and is almost never there to help us later," Zel pointed out.

"True…"

"It's okay Xel, duty ne?" Kami said with a grin, and ruffled his hair companionably. As she walked off a bit to sit next to Zel she "accidentally" whacked him over the head with her new staff. 

"Getting back to Kai-ou, after she got 'bored' of me, she teleported me here with this staff to my left. I was kinda mad at being in a tree, plus she **was** pretty rude, so I just yelled. Sorry if I startled you. Do you guys know who she is?"

"Sounds like it might be one of the remaining three Dark Lords, Deep Sea Dolphin," Zelgadiss said. "I'm no expert though. The only one of us who would know probably isn't going to say anything," he said, glaring at Xelloss. Xelloss, who hadn't been fully listening to the conversation, instead marvelling at the mood swings of women, said: "Oya, Zel-kun, what did I do?" 

"Don't call me that you damned mazoku,"

"Don't call you what Zel-kun?"

"Ugh! Go to hell!"

"Been there, its not as nice since Phibrizzo-sama died. New management sucks."

"That's it! I'm gonna--" Zelgadiss said, launching himself on Xelloss with a flurry of punches and kicks.

"ENOUGH!" Lina, Kami, and Amelia yelled making both men look up with wide eyes.

"I swear you two are flirting when you do that," Lina remarked.

"Lina-san! How could you say that about Zelgadiss-san?" huffed Amelia.

"Lina! How could you say such a thing?" yelled Zel who had quickly jumped of the mazoku as soon as she said it. All Kami did was giggle, she knew Lina was kidding and that Zel didn't like Xelloss. It was sure fun to watch him get all indignant like that. From the look on Xelloss' face it looked like he agreed with her. _That's the most amount of emotion Zel-san's displayed in the last couple days,_ she thought. 

          Trying to stick to the original topic of conversation as to avoid future fights Kami said "So Dolphin took me in a stupid attempt to foil any supposed plan Xellas has with me 'cause she hates her sister so much. Wasn't Xellas the one who made her insane? Anyways, thing is, Dolphin forgot what her plan was. So she zapped me back with this staff for some reason. Sound about right?" Kami remembered the story about the two Dark Lords Dolphin and Xellas and how they gave a new definition of sibling rivalry, Lina had told it to her; she had just forgotten their names.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me," Lina said. With that, the discussion on that topic was closed for the day. 

          The next day Lina was ecstatic. She had found the main hideout of the Slaughter-All bandits. Granted, it wasn't too hard, mainly because it was located in the largest cave in the area with a big sign posted in front saying: "Nobody allowed. Slaughter-All bandits only." She and Gourry planned to go there and infiltrate. There was quite a bit of money in there. It was going to be a good profit. Amelia had gone off for a while, presumably to do some childish girly thing like pick wildflowers or sing to the animals. Xelloss had gone some time in the night, probably to report the recent events to his master. That left Zelgadiss and Kami alone. Kami was quite happy about this arrangement, for in all their three months as traveling companions they had never spent any time alone together. She wanted to get to know him better since he never talked much when the rest of the group was around. 

          They were packing up the campground in silence when Kami decided she that now's as good a time as any. She said the first thing that came to mind.

"Do you like banana's?" she said, mentally slapping herself for saying such a dumb thing.

"Excuse me?" Zel said, confusion in his voice.

"Um, I was just, um, wondering if you like banana's," she said, clearly embarrassed. 

"I guess, they're not too common where I was born" he said.

_There's something I can work with!_ Kami thought.

"Where were you born?"

"In a small village, population of about fifty. I highly doubt you know where it is."

"What was your family like?" she inquired. She saw his eyes go hard and thought _shit! Bad subject. Dammit, sometimes I can't do anything right._ Her thoughts were interrupted by him speaking.

"My mother and father were happy enough. They were pretty nice until I was transformed," he said bitterly. "When I told them that my Rezo, my great-grandfather and grandfather did this to me they threw me out of the house. They believed I had signed some contract with a mazoku and were outraged that I try to ruin the reputation of 'the great and noble Rezo'. I haven't seen them since."

"I'm sorry Zel-san, I didn't mean to--"

"Don't worry, you didn't know," he interrupted. "How about your family? What were they like," he said in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

"Well I live with my mother and father and two younger brothers, nine and twelve years old, then there's my cat whom I love so much he is family," she gushed happily, glad to escape that awkward situation. That is until it dawned on her. "Well I **lived**," she corrected herself, sorrow sinking in her voice. Now it was Zel's turn to curse inwardly. "Mom and dad would constantly squabble, like a pair of old hens. Most the time they were just kidding though. Brothers were annoying as hell, always in my stuff. Tomokazu and Hayashi were their name's," Kami hadn't noticed when she started to cry, but now the tears were streaking down her cheeks. "The cat, his name is Tanja, would follow me everywhere. But it wasn't annoying. He was just the best friend and most human like animal I'd ever had. Oh God, I miss them so much," she said, her voice cracking and shoulders shaking with sobs. Realising what she was doing, she turned her back to Zelgadiss in a vain attempt to regain her dignity. She had never liked crying in public and here she was bawling her eyes out in front of him. She jumped when she felt an awkward hand on her shoulder. She turned around slowly and saw that Zel had his hand on her shoulder and that he was looking off into the distance.

"I'm sorry I brought it up, I should have thought. I know this has been hard on you. If it's any consolation I know what it's like to lose your entire family in one day," he said compassionately though also awkwardly. Kami could tell this was difficult for him to be so open about his emotions. She nodded slightly and rested her hand atop his. He turned his head and looked at her in surprise.

"Thanks, Zel-san," she said softly. Then she stood up and said with false cheer, "Now, let's finish packing up this campsite otherwise Lina will be wondering what we've been doing all afternoon!" Zel removed his hand from her shoulder and flashed her one of his oh-so-rare-dropdead-smiles. "Alright."

The rest of the cleanup they discussed bananas. They discussed the parasites that threaten the crops when they grow up until their influence in the modern world.    

   


	5. But if I don't know what you don't know,...

*Author's Notes* If anybody's reading this and you want more please review. If nobody's reading this I don't see much point in continuing so please let me know. I know I kinda gave this chap crappy ending, but I was getting impatient to get the story moving more. As previously stated, please review or email with comments. I'll appreciate it grately.

Disclaimer: _The Slayers is the property of Software Sculptors and Hajime Kanzaka / Rui Araizumi / Shouko Yoshinaka / Hujimishobou / Kadokawashoten / TV Tokyo / King Records / SOFTX__. _( I finally stopped being lazy and found out who owned Slayers ^^;)_ Kami is born from my imagination hence she is mine._

Chapter 4.  

          The next couple of weeks were pretty routine. Lina decided to stop teaching Kami magic and strongly suggested that Zel do the same. And we all know when Lina Inverse strongly suggests something one had better do as she says. Lina said that it was to give Kami a chance to practice and get a feel for the magic she already had. Truth be told Lina was just extremely unnerved by the pace in which she was learning. Every teacher loves a good and interested student but when said student can do stuff that takes the average person about three years to learn in shortly after three months one has to stop and think. That is exactly what Lina decided to do. She decided to stop the lessons and observe for a while; see what it was that made Kami so good at magic. 

          Kami thought nothing of her sudden halt of lessons. She believed what Lina said about getting a feel for it and was rejoicing at the change in her ordinary schedule. She was getting pretty bored of doing the same things everyday. It was always the same; get up, try to go home, come back, infiltrate bandits or travel to nearest city, fight for mere table scraps (one has to when eating with Lina and Gourry as we all know), converse with the group for a while then go to bed. She decided to take up using-her-staff-as-a-weapon-instead-of-a-spiffy-walking-stick lessons instead. Oddly enough, it was Xelloss who offered to be her teacher in this field. He wouldn't tell her how to use its magical powers (assuming it had any, they still weren't sure) but he was willing to teach her how to fight with it like it were any other non-magical staff (or handy large stick). It gave her a chance to bond with the Trickster while everyone else did their normal daily activities. 

          Speaking of bonding, she had really done that with Zel since their conversation. Before she was attracted physically and now she also was drawn to his extremely rare compassionate and emotional side. Zel also seemed to have changed. He was gentler and spoke more often to her. When they weren't busy they often sought each other's company for conversation and such. The rest of the group eventually caught on to this subtle change in behaviour. Thinking not much of it most dismissed it. Everyone except Xelloss. He took every opportunity available to tease the pair. But what can one expect from the Trickster Priest himself? All these new feelings were put to test one cold evening. 

          Sleep was mocking Kami. She would get so tired but could not fall asleep. She was still not used to sleeping on the ground and found that her back ached constantly. It was especially bad tonight. Sudden scuffling sounds outside piqued her curiosity. Crawling out of bed and grabbing her staff she went to investigate. Peering out from the tent she noticed Zel's fading figure in the distance. Curious, she followed. She originally stayed a distance back but when it came apparent that he had no intentions of coming back to camp she picked up the pace. That was no easy task since Zel already was going at an immense speed. Running, she caught up to him. When she was twenty feet away Zel stopped and looked over his shoulder. Originally he had thought the noise behind him was some sort of animal so he had dismissed it. Widening his eyes in surprise he stammered a bit. Finally able to speak properly he said, "Kami?! What are you doing here?"

Panting, she replied, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going off to look for my cure" Zel said, carefully removing any emotion from his voice. Kami felt incredibly hurt and betrayed for some reason. _Don't be stupid. Just 'cause he's been friendlier lately doesn't mean anything. He probably just feels sorry for you,_ she chastised herself. 

"Why?" she asked.

"That's a stupid question, in case you haven't seen recently, I have stone skin and wire hair."

"Why do you let it bug you? It's a phenomenal advantage in battles, and you seem to get in a lot of those."

"I'd like to be able to go out in public without having everyone think I'm a freak. Who cares if it's good in battles when I'm ostracized from my people!" he said, starting to get angry.

"Are you really so shallow as to care what everybody else thinks? And if you were able to find a cure, what would you do? You wouldn't have any more magic and you're not trained in any profession."

"I'd learn!" he deliberately chose to ignore the shallow comment.

"And what would you do in the mean time, eh? Depend on Lina and the rest of the group? You wouldn't be able to survive a week. You're too use to your stone skin to get you out of sword fights."

          Zel was outraged. Such a thing did not happen unless he thought of Rezo or the damned mazoku. This girl was putting down pretty much what his whole life was based on; finding his cure. He was angrier because now he was doubting whether or not he should continue his seemingly futile search. Unable to defend himself from what she previously said he changed tactics and resorted to something he wasn't too proud of: petty insults.

"I don't see you doing much different," he said and immediately regretted it. Something about this girl made him speak before thinking; a very un-Zelgadiss like trait.

"Do I have much choice?!" Kami yelled.  "I didn't ask to come here"

"Do you think I asked to become a chimera?"

"YOU DID" 

"NO I DIDN'T! I didn't ask to change bodies! I just wanted to become stronger!

"Instead at working at it like everyone else, you decided to be lazy and get someone else to do it for you! You've told me the story!"

Zel turned his head and looked away. There was an awkward silence while both were busy feeling guilty for what they had just said.

"I'm not shallow just because I don't want people to see me and run away," Zel said softly.

"I know, Zel-san. But it's not that bad! I've been in towns with you and the worst people have done is stare."

"That's because I always have my hood and cowl on. You weren't around the rare times I'd ventured off in a town with them off." 

"Does it really matter so much what other people think?"

"I'd just like to go somewhere without somebody thinking I'm a monster," he said with slight desperation in his voice.

"Nobody you're traveling with now thinks you're a monster. I don't think this Filia I've been told about thought you were a monster," she said compassionately. "I don't think you're a monster," she whispered. 

"Are you going to ignore all I said earlier? About life after 'the cure'?" she asked.

"I don't know, dammit! I don't know what to do anymore!" Zel growled in frustration. He was so close to giving up his search. That is until he remembered the first time he had met Amelia. She had immediately assumed he was evil based on his appearance. He couldn't deal with that anymore. 

          Kami could see the internal battle he was fighting by the emotions on his face. She saw frustration turn to confusion turn to desperation turn to determination. She sent a silent prayer to hope he had made the right decision.

          He turned his back to her and started walking. "I don't care if I become a weakling. But I will not be dependant. I will do the most demeaning tasks in order to regain my humanity. I will not be judged on my appearance anymore!"

          _Damn the gods!_ Kami swore silently. She was getting increasingly frustrated by Zel and his stubbornness. Going on impulse she grabbed his arm and shouted "Zelgadiss!!" This caused the chimera to stop in his tracks and turn around surprised and look at her. In all the months she had never called him anything other than Zel-san. She took his head in her hands and kissed him. Zel was scarred out of his wits but before he knew it he was responding. Their kiss deepened when he slipped his tongue in her mouth. Kami was surprised at his boldness but she wasn't complaining. When they finally broke for air they were both panting slightly.  

"Please don't go," Kami pleaded. Zel stood undecided for a moment. Then he made up his mind.

"Okay…" he said while the blush he was already sporting brightened. Kami took his hand and started leading him back to camp. The sun peaking its way over the horizon was an indication that it was early morning. Neither of them said anything, just content to be in each other's company. A figure hidden in the trees cracked an evil grin.

Later in the morning Zel and Kami were the last to get up, and only because of being shaken by Xelloss or Amelia. Neither was thrilled by receiving only three and a half hours sleep. Zel stumbled out of the men's tent first and was followed by Kami who came out of the women's tent five minutes later. Both looked like they'd been run over by a herd of stampeding elephants and they felt like it too. Zel was clutching his coffee for dear life and although she never drank the stuff, Kami guzzled down an entire mug in a couple seconds. Granted her throat was burning, eyes watering, and taste buds were protesting but she poured herself another mug. She drank this one much more slowly.

"So how was your night, minna-san?" Xelloss asked in a sugary sweet voice. Lina thought his question was rather odd, but couldn't find anything technically wrong with it so she answered. "It was pretty good, no different then the last," she said.

"I slept like a log," Gourry said enthusiastically.

"You always sleep like a log!" Lina said irritably.

"How 'bout you Kami-chan? Zel-kun?" Xelloss asked coyly. Never wavering, Zel replied, " Decent, I guess. Went for a bit of a walk because I couldn't sleep, that's about it. Oh yeah! One more thing! DON'T CALL ME 'Zel-KUN'!!!!!!" he yelled and glared death at Xelloss. Ever since Lina's comment about them flirting Zel tried as hard as he could not to strike the mazoku. He knew Xelloss liked it, it's just when he got so mad he couldn't resist the urge to kill.

"I for one had a horrible night," Kami said, her voice wavering slightly. "Not use to sleeping on the floor, my back and neck are killing me!" 

"Well the rest of the night was comfortable enough, ne?" Xelloss said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kami said cautiously.

"Oh really? Perhaps Zel-kun knows?"

"I don't know what he would know."

"Are you sure he won't know what you don't know?"

"Well I don't know what I don't know so I don't know if he won't know."

"But if you don't know what he doesn't know, then--"

"Enough!" shouted Lina and Zel at the same time.

"I'm have a headache and it's not even nine in the morning," grumbled Lina who had sat down on a rock and currently placed her head in her hands. "It's gonna be a long day."


	6. A spoon full of alcohol make your all wo...

*Author's Notes* I decided I'd keep writing. Some people are reading and I'm doing it for them. Plus, I was looking over some of my notes and I at least have to finish Part 1. If I go through with what I have in notes and such this should be a long fic. Hope nobody minds ^^. Ugh! I'm so sick right now. I feel like I'm gonna die. I'm so happy its spring break right now, I definitely would not want to go to school like this. On a different note, I know in my story I skip weeks, sometimes months at a time but that's only 'cause I don't believe that people can fall in love in a couple days and I'm too lazy to actually write everyday. Plus, in my opinion it would be boring. Forgive me if you disagree. Finally, I must apologise for all the fluff in this chapter. It makes me ashamed ^^;; 'Nuff said, on to part 5 of (Insert deep voice, spiffy lights, and booming music) I AM NOT A PRISONER.

Ps: it might be awhile before I'm able to write the next chapter. Just warning you.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Slayers characters but Kami is mine.

Chapter 5

          Lina had been right. It had been a long day. A very long day indeed. Much to her chagrin, it had not only been a very long day, it had been very long week. Xelloss developed a daily ritual of 'bug the hell out of Kami and/or Zelgadiss'. Lina knew something had happened the other night between her close friends but she dared not mention it in case she get the Fruitcake Priest all worked up again. He seriously reminded her of a child who had been giving unlimited access to the candy store whenever he teased her friends. Even though Zel and Kami remained closed lipped, that still didn't discourage Xelloss. He seemed to enjoy the challenge. She should admire his determination, should being the key word. She was very close to killing him.

"Xelloss would you shut the hell up before I shove that staff up your a-" Lina yelled at Xelloss, who was currently being an immense pain.

"Yare yare, Lina-chan, you should not be so crude in the middle of a busy town like this," Xelloss interrupted her.

"I'll be crude wherever I damn well please," she snapped back.

"Are you feeling like I'm not paying attention to you anymore?" Xelloss purred.

"Oh that's it, your dead now," she said, throwing herself on Xelloss with an arsenal of punches and kicks.

"Now who's flirting?" mumbled Zelgadiss. Thankfully, no one heard him.

          The group rounded a corner and arrived at a quaint little country inn. Having already eaten at a restaurant half an hour ago, they went to their rooms to settle in. Each person then went about to do a different thing to occupy themselves until they decided to go to bed. They may have been really good friends but they still got on each others nerves simply from spending so much time together. Amelia went to the outskirts of town with Gourry, her to practice her justice poses and recite new speeches (hey, you gotta have a little variety!) and him to practice with his sword. Lina went about the town's magic stores, and Zel stayed in the inn's lounge to sit down and have some quiet reading time. Xelloss upped and disappeared (big surprise there) and Kami sat in the dinning room at a table in the corner, nursing a cup of tea and watching the lives of those who were around her. She watched the cook inside the kitchen baking away happily, some customers a couple tables over feeling up the waitress (then getting immediately smacked), and some men in the bar singing loudly. She tried hard not to think about home but whenever she was alone she found she couldn't help it. Deciding she was not going to mope on such a nice night she guzzled down the rest of her tea and decided she'd to something to distract herself. Looking around for something to do her eyes averted back to the loud men at the bar and she thought _what the hell! Anything that will keep my mind from being depressed. _Making up her mind she walked over to the bar. She sat down at one of the stools and stared at the bartender who was of course, shining an already clean class with a semi-dirty cloth (one has to keep up appearances). He eyed her suspiciously then asked her what she wanted. Not really knowing the kinds of alcohol they had in this world and unable to read the list she glanced to the overly cheerful men who were singing and dancing to her left and said, "I'll have whatever they're having."

"You sure little lady, that's some mighty potent stuff they got," the bartender said. Letting her pride get to her she said with indignation, "I can take it." The bartender took out a couple bottles of foul smelling brown liquid and mixed them together. A small puff of smoke rose from the class and it changed to a green colour. After putting a mini umbrella in it, he handed it to her. The smell reminded her of mouldy strawberries. Determined to prove the bartender wrong she quickly took a gulp. The liquid burnt her throat but it wasn't as bad as some of the other stuff she's had. Giving it a moment she to settle she then drank the rest. She looked at the bartender with a smug look and said, "More."

Zel was enjoying one of the most relaxing nights he'd had in a couple months. He was reading a book on some ruins in the south of Atlas city. He knew that his cure wasn't in this book or the ruins, but he found this stuff interesting nevertheless. He could hear the obnoxious songs of the drunkards from here, and that reminded him how much he wanted a coffee. Setting the book down on a side table he got up and stalked into the dinning room. The sight in front of him rendered him speechless.  Right across from him was group of five men and two women. They all had their arms around each other's shoulders and were swaying back and forth. Normally that wouldn't affect Zel in any way. It's just that Kami was in that group singing the loudest of them all. Zel approached the bartender and asked, "How many has she had?"

"The foreign looking one?" the bartender asked.

"Yeah,"

"It's unbelievable sir," the bartender said. "I've never seen one that size pack down so many and still be able to stand. She's had five so far." 

"Five?"

"Doesn't sound like much but with someone as small as her that's quite a bit."

"I think that's enough for her," Zel said and walked towards the table.

Zel was not too happy. As a rule he tried to avoid large groups of people and being the centre of attention (something which isn't too easy when traveling with Lina-tachi). Here he was walking straight towards it! He scowled slightly but he knew he couldn't just let Kami drink all night with these strange and unfamiliar men and women. Just thinking what could happen made him perhaps more angry then he should have been.

Zel put his hand on her shoulder to let her know he was there. She looked up then said with a goofy grin, "Zelly Belly!" she then poked him in the stomach and frowned slightly when her nail broke. After taking a gulp from her neighbour's drink she got up wobbly then fell right back down on her chair with a thud.

"Whats you doin ere?" she questioned.

"I've come to stop you before you do something ludicrous and embarrassing to yourself," Zel said calmly. Kami looked at him blankly for a moment then started giggling fiercely.

"Dat's me Zelly Belly," she announced to the rest of the tables. She was replied with an assorted variety of cheers. 

"Come on Kami, you're going upstairs now," Zel said as he took her arm and tugged her gently.

"Upstairs?" she said the word as if it were a completely foreign language. 

"Yes, upstairs," he pulled a little harder and she got up again, however wobbly. After walking a couple steps she almost fell again but was caught by Zel. They walked across the dinning room with Kami clutching on to Zel like he was a life raft and Zel trying as hard as he could to ignore the stares the rest of the room were giving them. When they got into Kami's room Zel briefly wondered if she had any nightclothes with her but dismissed the idea almost instantly as he knew what he'd have to do to get her in them. He guided her towards her bed and took off her shoes for her. All the while she just stared at him in what looked like almost fascination. Yet again she was looking at everything with fascination. Zel laid her down gently on her bed and tucked the covers up to her neck.

"Night Zelly Belly…." Kami yawned and fell asleep instantly. Zel paused for a moment then said quietly, "Night Kami-chan," and he kissed her lightly on her forehead.

          The next morning Kami woke to what she thought was twenty elephants stampeding. Grumbling profanities she rolled over and covered her head with her pillow. The elephant stampede was joined with something that sounded like a screaming banshee. The noise was getting progressively louder and Kami swore with frustration. After regaining some of her senses she realised that it was only Lina knocking and yelling at the door. Kami got up slowly and opened the door. From the look on Lina's face Kami could tell she must have looked a mess. The fiery tempered red head was quiet for a moment then remembered what she had come for.

"Can you be ready soon? I didn't see you last night when I told the others we'd be leaving earlier this morning. Gods Kami, you look horrible!"   

          Kami looked into a mirror that was hanging on a wall to the right. Her long dark green hair was tousled and sticking out everywhere and there were dark grey circles under her usually large and cheerful brown eyes. Today they were squinted and very sleepy looking. She looked down at her school uniform and grimaced. It was extremely wrinkled from being slept in and reeked of alcohol. Sensing where Kami's thoughts were going Lina said, "You can borrow something of mine to wear. What the hell happened to you?"

"I got bored so I decided I'd sample the local alcohol," she said flatly.

"Sample? You smell more like you swam in it!"

"I practically did," she said bitterly. Lina patted Kami lightly on the side of her arm and walked out the door. "I'll come back in a minute with something decent to wear," she called over her shoulder. 

          Making her way back to the bed, Kami frowned. If there was one thing she noticed about her new friend's world was that EVERYBODY either wore epaulettes or a cape. Thinking about it, aside from the common folk she hadn't seen an individual who wasn't wearing one or the other. She had never thought much of her friend's fashion sense but never said anything because she realised just how ugly her cape-less, epaulette-less school uniform must look to them. Not like they seemed like a bunch that cared too much for fashion. 

          Kami took a brush off her bedside table and started the tedious task of brushing the Rats Nest, a.k.a. her hair. Her friends back home had always wondered why she kept it so long, especially since it was so thick. It was mornings like this she really wished she had followed her friend's advice and cut her hip long hair.

          Lina returned a few minutes later and didn't bother to knock as she came in. Kami breathed a sigh of relieve as she saw what her friend was carrying. It was very a very simple dark blue ensemble. Taking the clothes and going into an adjoining room Kami got changed. When she was done she left the room to look in the mirror. The dark blue shirt was loose fitting and not too low down, but enough to show a little cleavage. The shirt fell to her waist. She wore an equally loose fitting pair of pants. And to Kami's chagrin the outfit was complete with a long royal purple cape that fell to her ankles. Thankfully there were no epaulettes. She smiled slightly as she felt the material of the outfit; it was unlike anything she had felt before. It was some kind of mix between silk and cotton, it felt incredibly silky but she knew it would be great for traveling in. Kami looked at Lina questioningly, wondering why she had clothes that Kami was pretty sure would be too big for her. Lina avoided Kami's look and went back to her normal self.

"Hmm, you look normal for a change! Well, hurry up and get your stuff ready, we leave after breakfast," and with that she headed down the stairs. Truth of the matter was Lina had those only because she had stolen them from bandits recently. She had planned to find a seamstress to hem them and fix them so they would better fit her, um… attributes (or lack thereof). _Well, it's better than her wearing that silly uniform all the time. That thing is the strangest article of clothing I have ever seen._

          A couple minutes later Kami walked down the stairs and joined her friends. She vaguely noticed that Xelloss had joined them again. Seeing the food her friends were quickly devouring made her stomach turn.

"I'll wait outside," she said queasily. Here statement was lost on most of them, for the only people that seemed to notice were Zelgadiss and Xelloss. Zel said nothing, just continued to drink his coffee while Xelloss cocked an eyebrow and phased out. He met her outside.

"Ne Kami-chan, what's the matter?" he asked in a singsong voice.

"Nothing."

"You don't look too well, did you sleep well? Perhaps you didn't get a good night's sleep. Did someone keep you up? Ooh, and what happened to your clothes? Did--"

"Stop that line of thought right now Xelloss," Kami said. "I simply drank too much last night. That's all," she said matter-of-factly.

"But how did you get back to your room last night, eh Kami-chan?"

          Kami paused for a moment to think. For the life of her she couldn't remember how she got back to her room last night. She hadn't really had a chance to think about it until now. She was beginning to panic, but damned if she was going to let Xelloss see that. She knew he was just teasing but he could be merciless if he got a lead that she might having been doing stuff like that. 

"I went up by myself," she lied, trying hard to keep her cool demeanour.

"Then who was that man I saw accompanying you?"

"There was no man," she said cautiously.

"Oh I'm sure there was," he said, sporting an immense grin.

"Nuh-uh," she said. _Oh great, that was just the epitome of maturity._

"Yuh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"NUH-HUH!"

"YUH-HU--"

"What are you two arguing about," Amelia interrupted with her hands on her hips and a condescending look on her face. She looked very much like the stereotypical mother hen.

"Kami's going to bed with strange men and--"

"AM NOT!"

"Then who was that guy last night?" Xelloss inquired.

"That was me," Zelgadiss said.

"NANI??" the rest of the group (including Kami) exclaimed loudly. Xelloss briefly allowed one evil smirk to escape from his lips before masking his face with a shocked expression. He knew quite well who it had been and that they had done nothing (he couldn't resist the temptation to spy) but this was one of the more golden opportunities he'd ever had to tease the couple.

"Not like that!" Zelgadiss said and immediately took an unconscious step back. He was beginning to doubt his reasoning in speaking at all. 

          Kami was also feeling very nervous. _I couldn't have done anything with Zel last night. He must've known I was drunk and wouldn't have done anything. Why the hell can't I remember? I swear I'm not drinking that much ever again!_

"Zelgadiss-san! What exactly did you do, and why is Kami denying it?" Amelia asked with an expression of shock and horror.

"We didn't do anything!" Zel practically yelped.

"Sure," Xelloss said sarcastically. "And I love picking on helpless old ladies."

"You do," Zelgadiss said angrily.

"Good point!" Xelloss said cheerfully.

"Anyways, back to the topic…" Lina said with a frustrated voice.

"We didn't do anything," Kami said strongly. "Did we?" she asked Zel in a small voice.

"No!" he replied.

"Then how come I saw you kiss her?" Xelloss said, trying hard to keep the grin of his face.

"W-W-What? I did not!" Zel exclaimed loudly. A large tomato blush stained his blue skin. _How did he know?_

"You did too!" Xelloss exclaimed loudly. He opened his eyes and made his voice turn seductive. "Right after you gently lowered her trembling body onto the bed. You bent down and placed your lips--"

"ENOUGH!!" Zel screamed. Lina could swear he was blushing straight to his fingertips. He began a flurry of attacks upon the now grinning mazoku. Xelloss whispered something in his ear and he backed up immediately and Xelloss began to pout. Kami too was beet red, half from fury half from embarrassment. She was gripping her staff so tightly that she had driven many slivers into her fingers and palm. The only thoughts that ran through her head were _DEATH TO XELLOSS! DEATH TO XELLOSS!_ Suddenly her staff shot out a large ray of sky blue light that hit Xelloss squarely in the gut. It made a hole the size of a fist in his stomach. Everyone stared with wide eyes at Kami then the hole in Xelloss' stomach. Kami herself was shocked. She had not actually wanted to physically hurt him, it had just momentarily overpowered her. She had felt the energy rushing out of her. Next thing she knew the light happened and Xelloss lay injured in front of her.

          Xelloss, who lay (the force of impact had knocked him to the ground) clutching his abdomen was surprisingly quite happy given his current situation. He'd been wanting to see how strong the powers of Kami's present from Deep Sea Dolphin were for quite some time. Granted he wasn't pleased that it was so powerful, but at least it was a mere shadow in comparison to his staff. 

          Tears welled up in her eyes as Kami realised just what exactly she had done. _I've burned a hole straight through him! No one could live with an injury like that! _

"X-Xelloss, I'm so sorry!" she yelled and ran to him. 

"K-Kami? How could you? I trusted you. I think I might've loved you," Xelloss had opened his eyes and was pouring pure emotion from them. With that he fell backwards and laid a hand on his chest.

"Goodbye sweet world…" he said and he closed his eyes and let his head tilt to the side. Kami let out an incomprehensible cry and ran off into the town. Xelloss sat up again and said, "Some people really need to lighten up."

"You bastard!" Zel yelled and ran off after Kami. Gourry let out a sob and said, "I can't believe Xelloss is dead! He was so alive just minutes ago, talking to Zel and everyone…"

"He's still alive, Jellyfish!" Lina said.

"That was a beautiful death Mr. Xelloss," Amelia said with big stars in her eyes.

"Ugh, I'm gonna be sick," Xelloss said right before phasing out.

          Meanwhile, Zelgadiss was chasing Kami all around town. Normally catching her would pose no problem, but Zel didn't want to use his demon speed in town. He waited until she ran out of the city gates and into a clearing before speeding up and catching her.

"Get away from me Zel-san! I want to be alone!" she yelled and turned her back to him.

"He's not dead Kami."

"What? But I saw him, he died right in front of me!"

"It was just an act. That's just a minor wound, he'll be whole again in about two days."

"But…but…shit I thought I'd killed him!" she said tears of relieve now rolling down her cheeks. Her knees gave out and she fell to the ground (how would you feel if you had thought you'd killed someone then hear it wasn't true?). Zel paused for a moment, incredibly undecided. He didn't want to just let her sit there and cry but he was still extremely self-conscious and not a touchy person in general. As her sobs became louder and more apparent he decided and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her shoulders, barely touching her. She laid her head on his shoulder and started crying more, internally scolding herself. _God, I'm so stupid. I didn't kill him for the love of God, so why am I still crying? I'm pathetic!_ She couldn't help it though; the tears kept running down her cheeks. Suddenly she felt stony lips on her own and she jumped slightly in surprise. Here was Zel, anti-social and chronically depressed chimera man kissing her. The kiss lasted about thirty seconds and they broke for air. Now it was Kami's turn to play aggressor, and she completely forgot about Xelloss. She turned on Zel and kissed him hard, then when he opened his mouth in surprise she slipped him the tongue. To her extreme surprise Zel reacted almost immediately and clutched her more tightly. After they broke for air this time they both practically pounced on each other. A few minutes later Kami broke away then panted, "I think we'd better stop."  

"Y-Yeah," Zel agreed. They got up, brushed off their clothes and started walking back to their friends. They met them at the city gate.

"We got tired of waiting for you two so we went to find you," Lina said.

Kami briefly noticed that Xelloss wasn't with them. Before she could say anything though, Lina said, "Xelloss teleported off shortly after you left. Pro'lly to heal. He should be back soon, knowing him."

          Kami frowned slightly but didn't say anything. She still was upset about injuring him. Then she remembered what her and Zel had done and the field and she almost got a lecherous grin. _My, he's a feisty one! I never would have expected._

          Zel himself was thinking pretty much the same thing. He was shocked at his own aggressiveness and was mentally berating himself. _I must think, not feel! I let my guard down and someone could have attacked us._ He paused slightly then thought, _still, it was almost worth being attacked._ _It's not even ten in the morning and its already been an…..eventful day. Yet again, it always is with Lina-tachi._ He went on to think about all the battles he'd ever had with Lina. _I never would have thought I'd get in a battle with two Dark Lords and two Dark Gods._ Zel sighed and started walking with the rest of the group out into the great beyond. He prayed that the remainder of the day would be peaceful.

          He got his wish…almost. __


	7. Bring on the angst!

*Author's Notes* Thanks for the reviews! I always am a bit more motivated to write when I see reviews. As for the questions, I only really made Dolphin attempt at recruiting Kami for one reason: I needed a plausible way for her to acquire the staff. I don't think I'll be using Dolphin in the future but you never know. When I write fics I just have a basic plot in mind. I change stuff around constantly but usually always stick to a basic series of events. As to why I named this I Am Not a Prisoner, sore wa himitsu desu! Sorry, I couldn't help it. I'll explain it in a later chapter, I don't know if it will be in the story or in one of my Notes sections. It's a pretty small chapter this time and I don't know how soon I can write the next chapter. I'm not too happy with this chapter but shikata nai, I'll try to make the next one better. Now, before my notes become longer than the fic itself, on with the story!

Chapter 6

          If one asked Zelgadiss Graywords how his day went, he would probably say "Fine." If you were to reflect on what he did you would see no reason to doubt him. All Lina-tachi did that day was travel to the next town.  The sun had been shining and a slight breeze had been blowing. The occasional bird flew overhead and their random cries and an odd bumblebee buzzing in your ear were the only things that disturbed the peacefulness of the forest trail on which they had been traveling. The group themselves had also been unnaturally quiet. One might guess that was because they were enjoying the pleasant scenery and wanted to be quiet to let each other think and enjoy the peacefulness. A more realistic person would say it was because after all the commotion that morning they had forgotten to buy food for the day and didn't realise so until lunchtime. After every magic user threatened to put a silence spell on a certain red haired sorceress if she didn't stop complaining they journeyed the rest of the way in sullen silence, each person hungry (except Xelloss, he was getting a gourmet five star meal from everyone's negative emotions) and weary from traveling with no food. The hunger didn't bother Zelgadiss, mainly because he couldn't feel it. As a side effect of Zelgadiss' chimerick transformation he did not need to eat as regularly as his human friends. He usually did though mainly from habit from when he had needed to. Zelgadiss was brooding and sullen because the entire day his thoughts had been plaguing him. He could not get a certain dark green haired foreigner out of his head. One could say Zelgadiss was displaying the normal attitudes of any young person who just got recently romantically involved with someone. Zelgadiss saw this as pathetic weakness. After thinking about it for a majority of the day he had deduced that Kami only pitied him and was lonely. The thought brought on a serious depression because he knew he was starting to care deeply for the girl. In the near four months they had been traveling together he had come to appreciate how much calmer she was compared to the rest of the females in the group. By no means was she a docile person, but when compared to pretty much everyone else in the group a flying Purple People Eater would be considered docile. She would talk on about the science of her world, though Zel could tell she was holding some back. He did not question her about her choice to do so, he trusted her judgement. She was an avid listener when it came to magic and other new things, something that he welcomed greatly. He found he could talk and relate to her and he had been doing so more than he had to anyone else in his life. The thought that she didn't really care about him hurt him more than he'd like to admit and his usual pessimistic self couldn't help to think it. Yet there was a part of him that kept speaking up, saying that she did like him for whom he truly was. He was so torn between the two ideas and was so deep in thought that he didn't even realise when they had reached their destination, the town of Mitionen. He made a quick decision to cool it down a bit with her, and just watch and see.

          While the rest of the group sat at a circular table in the middle of the small local inn's restaurant devouring anything in sight, Zelgadiss climbed wearily up the wooden steps and down the hallway that led to his room. He was not about to let anyone see just how emotionally distraught he was. Entering his room slowly, he gave it a quick look around. It was nothing fancy; simply a small bed with a bedside table to the left. It had a large open window with lacy curtains dancing with the breeze. One large mirror was situated to the side of the door. Stepping completely into the room he avoided the mirror (as had become habit) and closed the window. Stripping out of his traveling clothes he quickly put on a lighter outfit that he used for sleeping in. Crawling into the bed he allowed himself one brief smile at the fact that the bed seemed capable of holding his immense weight before falling into a deep sleep. 

          To say Kami was hungry would have been an understatement. Ravenous was more accurate. She was finding though, that satiating her hunger proved to be more challenging then expected. With three other people as hungry as her (more so, probably) she found that food was hard to latch on to. The moment it was put on the table it was gone. It would even disappear from your hand if you didn't have a strong enough grip on it. After watching another round of food disappear before it even hit the table Kami stared dejectedly at the empty table. She brightened when inspiration suddenly hit her. She moved from the table she was staring with Lina-tachi to one further in a corner. Xelloss soon popped in to join her. 

"Maa, someone doesn't want to share with everyone else?" he asked in a childish voice.

"_That_ is not sharing. I moved here for self-preservation only. If I'd have stayed there I never would have gotten anything to eat!"

"Very true Kami-chan," Xelloss said with a wink of his eye. Kami grinned at him and leaned back in her chair while waiting for a server to take their orders.

"You gonna get anything Xel-kun?" she asked, realising that she'd never actually seen Xelloss order food before.

"Nope, not hungry. I've been eating all day."

"NANI? Where did you get fo—oh that's right, I forgot. You don't eat normal food."

"So how's Zel-kun?" he asked mischievously.

"We're not going to get in to this again, are we?"

"You're no fun!" he pouted. Just then a server came and Kami just asked him to get her whatever he could before the kitchen ran out of food. Kami glanced over her shoulder and noticed that her former dinner company were still going at it like there was no tomorrow. She sighed and shook her head. She continued to make light conversation with Xelloss until her meal arrived. Excusing herself from further conversation she began to eat. The server had brought her some turkey meat with gravy and a large salad. Xelloss sat and watched her eat and thought briefly how much she looks like a native to this world with her new outfit and ever present staff. 

          When she finished her meal she conversed with Xelloss a bit more. She had been so wrapped up in their conversation she didn't notice that a majority of the occupants of the dining room had already left. She stifled a yawn and noticed how the natural sedatives of the bird were beginning to take effect. Looking outside the window she estimated it was about eight thirty. She told Xelloss she had some things she wanted to do before she went to bed she then left the table and went out into the city streets. The air was crisp and cool and she shivered slightly. She walked around the city to warm up she noticed people setting up tents and stalls all around. _There must be some sort of a festival tomorrow,_ she thought to herself. Just then a sign that had been previously airborne landed at her feet (convenient, neh?). She picked it up and stared at it for a couple minutes. She could see colourful tents and pictures scattered all over it but she couldn't understand the text. _I never realized that they have a different writing system then my own. Now that I think of it, it's pretty obvious that they would._ After putting the sign in a nearby garbage can she continued her walk around town. When she returned to the inn she decided to go straight to bed. She sighed as she laid down on the extremely soft yet still firm bed and rolled on to her side. Curling up she drifted peacefully into a sound night's slumber.  


	8. Danger Will Robinson, danger! OOC and sa...

*Author's Notes* This one has taken me longer to write, I've just been increasingly busy and expect to remain so for a while. Finally done Part 1, which has mainly focused on the Zel/Kami relationship. Part 2 talks more about the secret of Kami's ability to travel dimensions and such. It'll still have romance, though not quite as prominent as it is now. Part 2 will also prolly take a tad longer to write 'cause I don't have it all planed out yet ^^;;  btw, I'm sorry, I know the characters are OOC in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I haven't done one of these for a while. I kinda forgot. Talk about being lazy, I just copied and pasted from a previous chapter. Anyways, _The Slayers is the property of Software Sculptors and Hajime Kanzaka / Rui Araizumi / Shouko Yoshinaka / Hujimishobou / Kadokawashoten / TV Tokyo / King Records / SOFTX. Kami is born from my imagination hence she is mine._

Chapter 7

          Zelgadiss lay peacefully in a quiet secluded valley bordered with trees and scattered with wildflowers. The pale moon provided minimal light, but the surrounding darkness did not disturb the content chimera. Hearing the grass crinkle behind him, he turns his head and sees Kami standing there with a melancholic expression. The wind blows her dark hair; exposing all of her face and making her look almost vulnerable. He reaches out to her and gets her to sit beside him.

          "What's wrong, Kami?" he asked concernedly. She leans forward so that her face is only inches away and opens her mouth to reply…

          "SQUAWK!!" 

************************************************************

          Zelgadiss' eyes fly open and he sits up slightly out of his bed.

"SQUAWK, SQUAWK!!" 

He looks over at his window and sure enough, lo and behold the mother of all ugly birds is sitting on his windowsill. The bird's massive and hungry looking eyes seem to lock with his own and if one was looking carefully they could have seen and stream of electricity pass between chimera and bird.

"SQUAAAAAWWWWK!!" the bird said again, this time drawing it out slowly. Zel continued to give the bird what we will call the evil eye. He was immensely pissed at the ugly creature standing before him for it was not often that Zel had other dreams that did not involve Rezo. He shuddered at the thought of the hated Red Priest. Looking at the bird again an image briefly passed through his mind. He pictured the bird dressed in flowing red robes and with purple pointy hair. 

"That's enough!" Zel chastised himself, realising just how stupid he was acting.  He walked over to the window and began shooing the bird away. The bird had other ideas.  It latched itself onto his sleeve and took a big bite. It was then the bird learned it did not like the taste of stone. It made a pathetic sort of squawk and quickly flew out the window. Zel smiled smugly and looked out the window at the rapidly retreating bird. Suddenly he noticed on how hot the sun seemed. Realising it was much later than he originally thought he quickly dressed and left the room. He walked down the inn's steps and found that the common room was almost completely empty. Spying Kami studiously looking at a piece of paper in one of the tables he made his way towards her. She jumped slightly as he pulled a chair out for himself then smiled and said, "Good afternoon, you sure slept late!"

"Guess I was more tired than usual. Where'd the others go?" he said a little gruffly. She paused a moment before answering.

"Some sort of festival going on today. All I know is that it's a big gourmet food festival. Chefs from all around the continent are coming to compete on who can make the best meal. Lina said she'd use her connections to get to be a taster."

"In other words she's going to fireball anyone who stands in her way?" he asked dryly. Kami nodded. Zel's attention was brought to the paper Kami had been looking at before his arrival.

"What's that?" he asked, indicating to the paper with a slight tilt of his head.

"Hmm? Oh this. It's a local newspaper, I think."

"You think?"

"I have no bloody idea what it says. Can't read the writing.

"Oh, you have a different writing system than ours. I never thought of that."

" Yeah, I do. How the hell do you read this Zel-san? It all looks like chicken scratches to me. I've been staring at this one piece of paper for almost half an hour and I can't find any recognisable patterns!" Kami exclaimed. She glared down at the paper in mention like it was her worst enemy. At the time, it probably was. 

"Hold on a second," Zel said and quickly got up and went to his room. Kami was confused until he came out again with pen and paper in hand. 

"Let me show you the basic alphabet," Zel said as he was writing stuff down on the paper. When he was done he got up and leaned over Kami's shoulder.

"This," he said, pointing to something he had written, "makes a 'gun' sound. This makes a 'fu' sound. This--"

"Hold on a minute," Kami said and picked up the discarded pen from the table. Taking the paper from Zel's hand she wrote down each sound the symbols made in katakana (1) next to them. 

Zel looked at what she was writing and asked: "Is that your alphabet?"

"It's one of three. We use this one for foreign words and emphasis. I'll show you more another time. Continue please," she asked Zel and they continued the process, Zel saying what each symbol said and Kami writing it in katakana. When they finished, Kami got the server to bring a pot of coffee and Zel pulled his chair next to hers. At her blank look he explained with one of his rare grins, "Now you're going to practice," and he tapped the newspaper that had gotten shoved to a corner of the table. She straitened up the newspaper and began.

"Tod, tod-ay, today is th, the, today is the, an-, an u al, annual, Today is the annual, coo, k, cook, ing ,cooking fes, fes t, iv, al(2). Today is the annual cooking festival! Yatta! I did it!" Kami exclaimed, almost knocking over her coffee cup in the process.

"Good Kami. Just practice and you'll be able to read soon," Zel said kindly. He couldn't help feeling happy; her joy was contagious. 

"Thanks Zel-san, this means a lot. I owe you one, neh?" she said with a wink. Before Zelgadiss could reply Lina-tachi came parading through the door.

"Ooh Kami-chan, you should have come with us, it was great!" Amelia exclaimed loudly. 

"I swear, if I didn't love destroying bandits so much, I'd do that for a living," Lina said enthusiastically.

"I take it they let you be judges?" Kami asked. Gourry nodded.

"And Lina only had to blow up five people too!" He said cheerfully.

"Shut up, Jellyfish-for-brains!" Lina said while grabbing him in a headlock.

"Itai Lina, itaiiii!" Gourry whined. 

"Humph! Moron…" she said after releasing him. 

Popping right behind Amelia, Xelloss said, "Yare yare, you two never change."

"Where've you been all day—wait don't answer, I already know what you're gonna say," Lina said. 

"Now Lina-san, that isn't fair. I could've answered you," Xelloss said, pulling off a perfect innocent act.

"You would've told me if I'd asked?" Lina questioned suspiciously.

"Sore wa himitsu desu!" Xelloss replied cheerfully and popped out.

"AAAAAAHHH!! Xelloss, you get back here this instant so I can beat you into a bloody pulp!" Lina cried furiously.

"Okay!" Xelloss said and popped back in. He immediately received a flurry of punches and kicks all over his body.

"Lina-san, stop this right now!" Amelia yelled.

Zelgadiss exchanged a glance with Kami and the both got up and headed for the door. Lina had begun to cause a scene and public attention was the last thing Zel wanted right now. Kami wasn't too fond of everyone staring at her also. 

"So much for a quiet afternoon," Zel said dejectedly.

"It can still be quiet. Want to go for a walk?" she replied.

Zel hesitated before answering, "Um, I guess. Where to?"

"We could go to the festival. The food competition's prolly over, otherwise Lina wouldn't have come back, but festivals always last until late in the night. At least they do where I come from."

Pulling up his hood and cowl he nodded his agreement. They walked down the busy street in silence each looking around at the different booths that littered the sidewalks. The sun shone brightly and the busy chatter of the crowd filled their ears. Kami briefly thought how accustomed she was getting to her new blue outfit but she was mainly thinking about Zel. _He was so nice to me today, I'm glad I decided to stay back. He seems kind of strained though…_

Zel was enjoying himself for the most part. He could care less about the festival going on around him; he was remembering how much he'd made Kami happy earlier today. _I was supposed to cool it._ _I'm going soft,_ he warned himself but that part of him was pretty much being ignored. Zel decided to let himself be happy for once without ruining it, _there's plenty of time to be depressed later,_ he reasoned.

Zel bought a couple little trinkets from a magic booth and they returned to the inn at about five thirty. Getting a separate table, they ate dinner together while sharing conversation. 

"Waiter, can we have a bottle of your nicest wine please?" Zel asked the server politely.

"Of course sir," he said and hurried off.

"My, aren't we being extravagant tonight, Zel-san?" Kami teased lightly.

"You're right, I don't know if my pocket book can afford your drinking habit, perhaps I should cancel the order," he teased. 

"Oh shut up. I don't usually drink like that, it'd been a bad night," Kami huffed, all the while smiling.

When dinner was over Zel escorted Kami to her room and gave her a light kiss. As he walked back to his own room he thought, _so much for cooling it down._

In her room, Kami was making a grand effort to concentrate on reading, but her mind kept wandering back to the day's events. _He's the most gentlemanly guy I've… I don't know what to call him. Are we going out? I should think so but nothing's ever been mentioned…_ she thought. Giving up on reading she decided to call it an early night and go to bed.

          The next morning everyone left the inn early and resumed traveling. They had no particular destination in mind, their goal (at least Lina's) was to find and destroy bandits and raid their hideouts. They stopped around noon at a lakeside to eat lunch and relax a bit before continuing. Kami was in no mood to rest.

          "Ne Xelloss, lets do more practice staff battles, it's been a couple days," Kami asked.

          "Come on Kami-chan, let's just relax and enjoy the scenery, ne?"

          "I really need to practice, and since I haven't been learning for a while I don't want to get rusty."

          "Your magic is more then enough to protect you. You're almost as powerful as Amelia and she does well enough."

          "I don't want to rely solely on magic, I should have backup."

          "If you won't do it, I'll take her," Zel offered.

          "You can fight with a staff?" Kami asked suspiciously.

          "I can fight well enough," Zel replied almost indignantly.

          "Okay, since Xelloss is being a lazy bum then I'll go with Zel-san," she said and left the beach to go back to a more secluded area. From behind she could hear Xelloss saying: "I resent that!" 

          Zel picked up a decent size branch from the ground and claiming it as his weapon they begun. Kami soon learned that Zel could indeed fight 'well enough' in fact she thought, although he wasn't nearly as good as Xelloss, she had no doubt who would win if he was fighting anyone else. As the battle wore on they had moved from their original position of twenty feet from the rest of the group to inside the neighbouring forest. When they found the forest too dense for them to move properly they decided to call it quits for the day.  Kami sat down in front of an old oak tree. Zel soon followed. The only sound the two made was a quiet panting noise from the exertion of the fight.  That is until Kami brought up the question that had been bothering her all day.

"What are we Zel-san?"

"What do you mean?"

"Umm, well… you know."

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Uh, how would you classify our relationship?" she asked hesitantly. There was a long moment of silence before Zel replied.

"I care for you," Zel began slowly, "but it hasn't been that long since we… got involved."

"And?" 

"And maybe we should wait a while before we classify it as anything."

"You said you care for me, and I care for you. Why should we wait?"

"Because I'm not sure if I'm ready for anything serious, I still want to find my cure before I settle down."

"I'm not saying we should get married! Hell, marriage is not even on my priority list. And did you forget all the points I brought up that night a while ago?" Kami asked vehemently.

"I didn't forget but--"

"But what?"

"Don't interrupt me. But, looking for my cure has occupied almost half of my life. I'm not sure what else I'd do if I wasn't looking for it."

"You're afraid!"

"I'm not afraid!"

"Well, we'll discuss this later. Back on the topic of our relationship, or as you've pointed out, our nonexistent relationship, I care for you! A lot! And you said you care for me too. Why can't we do anything about it?"

" I told you, I'm not ready. And besides, how would we tell everyone? How do you think Amelia would take it?" Zel shouted.

" What does it matter how'd we tell everyone and what does Amelia have to do with this?!"

"Well, you can't expect me to go up to the group and say 'Hey guys, look at this!' and kiss you passionately do you? And Amelia's my friend and I don't want to hurt her!"

"Of course I don't expect you do to that! That's ridiculous. And why would this hurt Amelia?" Kami yelled. She was extremely frustrated and losing her patience.

"You haven't noticed? She also cares about me. She's cared about me since long before you were even here!"

"She has?" Kami asked, perplexed. 

"Yes! Didn't you ever notice?"

"No actually."

"What? I thought it was obvious."

"Well I'm so sorry for not being as mighty and observant as you, _Zelgadiss-sama_!"

"Don't get petty now."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Calm down Kami!" Zel said, ignoring the fact that just moments ago he too had been yelling. 

"You're right Zel-san," she spat his name out as if it burned her mouth to say, "We should wait a while," she said and stormed off. Her lip quivered but she refused to cry in front of him. She also knew she was being extremely immature but it was too late now. That thought was not helping in her battle not to cry.

          Storming out of the forest Kami felt so mad, part at herself, the rest at Zel. _I shouldn't have brought it up. Everything would've been fine if I hadn't have brought it up! _As afore mentioned, Kami was really mad. And perhaps you didn't know but, when Kami gets mad, she gets extremely violent. While brutally torturing a small stone with her foot, Kami didn't notice Xelloss until she bumped straight into him.

"Wha—oh, it's you Xelloss," she said nastily. 

"What a nice way of greeting me Kami-chan," he said. Although he feigned ignorance, he had phased onto a nearby tree for the last part of their battle, so he was completely enlightened on the situation. However, he was not expecting what Kami would do next.

"Fight me Xelloss," she ordered brusquely. 

"Eh?" he asked, for a perplexed for a change and not liking it. 

"You heard me. Let's fight! I want a serious fight, not like when we practice," she demanded.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm not go--" the rest of his talk was cut off when he was blasted by a smouldering hot blue ball of energy.

"I'm serious Xelloss. I want to fight."

"Fine then," he said grimly. He wasn't going to kill her but he was going to show her that you don't just go attacking anyone.

          She shot out another ball of energy that was easily avoided and Xelloss popped in right behind her and brought down his staff towards her head. She parried just in time, but left herself open and he punched her in the gut. Barely managing not to double over she jumped back quickly and dodged a blast of dark electricity.  Before she knew what was happening tiny black cones surrounded her. They began to make several minor wounds that tore and stained her clothes with blood. Xelloss reappeared and nodded grimly.

"Are we done yet?" he asked.

"Not quite!" she shouted and shot a massive ball of energy. Xelloss phased out and came in right in front of Kami. He then clonked her on the head and she would've fallen to the ground had he not caught her.

"Yare yare Kami-chan," he said to the unconscious girl, "you really need to control your anger. You make Lina look like a pussy cat." He thought back a bit, "Well, perhaps not a pussy cat but still…" he said and phased off with the girl in his arms.

          Lina opened her eyes quickly and shifted in the place she had been dosing. 

"I feel strong energy," she stated.

"Could that just be Zelgadiss-san and Kami-san practicing magic as well as staffs?" Amelia inquired.

"No, I feel conflicting dark powers. Very strong dark powers."

"Do you think they're in trouble?" Gourry asked with concern in his voice. He had unconsciously latched on to the hilt of his sword.

"Could be. We should check," Lina said and she rose to her feet. She waited for everyone to do the same before shouting, "Let's go!" and headed towards where Xelloss and Kami were currently battling. Zelgadiss had also felt the energy and made his way there as well. 

Zelgadiss and Lina-tachi arrived roughly at the same time and were shocked at what they saw. The field was now deserted and all the plant life in that area had been burnt or was in the process of burning and there was blood shed all over the dirt. 

"Holy--" Lina was interrupted by a large thud. She turned over and saw Zelgadiss collapsed on his knees with his head buried in his hands.

"It's my fault! It's all my fault!" he mumbled to himself. 

"What are you talking about, Zelgadiss-san?" Amelia inquired nervously. Zel didn't seem to hear or if he did he was ignoring her for all he did was shake his head in his hands and hunch over some more. 

          Walking towards him Lina inquired, "What happened Zel?"

"She and I got into a fight and--"

"Fought about what?"

"That's not important now," he said brokenly. "She was so mad and upset that she stormed off. I think she committed suicide."

"What!?" Gourry yelled. 

"Th-that can't be true," Lina mumbled and she joined Zel on the ground. Amelia grabbed onto Gourry (he was the nearest) and said with tears streaming down her cheeks "NO!"

"Where's the evidence, I don't see a body," Gourry said calmly, surprising everyone.

"It probably burned," Zel said from behind his hands.

"I think we're worrying over nothing," Lina said, strengthened by Gourry's courage. "She's prolly off somewhere else sulking or something. Don't worry."

Meanwhile, while the others were mourning her supposed death, Kami laid peacefully in bathwater on Wolf Pack Island. She had woken up a little while ago with a severe headache and Xelloss had playfully suggested they take a bath together to 'make it go away'.  After making him promise to stay out while she was in here Kami had made her way into the bathwater and was now reflecting on today's events. Kami knew her anger was her major fault, and although it didn't take control often when it did she ended up doing and saying stupid and immature things. Example: challenging Xelloss and storming out on Zel. She sighed. _I feel so embarrassed. I could have died today! How stupid was I to challenge Xelloss. I'm lucky he didn't kill me, from what I've heard any other mazoku wouldn't have hesitated. I wonder why he didn't._

          Xelloss himself was thinking much the same thing. _The girl was rude and challenged me directly. I should have killed her. Why didn't I?_ He paused a moment, battling with his emotions._ She's my soft spot. Hell, they're all my soft spot and I wouldn't kill any of them. Unless my master asked. I'd still do anything for my master. _

          Xelloss looked out at the sky and thought, _they must be at the battle scene by now. Well, I'm sure they can mourn a little longer. I'm going to have some fun._ He grinned widely (and slightly evilly, I might add) and phased out. 

          Just as Kami began to drift off she heard a ruffle of fabric disturbingly close to her. 

"Ne Kami-chan. We should get going now, we wouldn't want everyone to worry now would we?" Xelloss said.

"Eh? Xelloss? Hentai yo! Get you're purple ass out of here right now!" she exclaimed loudly.

"Purple ass?" he questioned curiously.

"It will be if you don't LEAVE!"

"If you really want to see what colour my ass is, I'm sure that can be arranged…"

"Get. Out. NOW!"

"Fine, fine. But we really should be getting back now, you wouldn't want Zel-kun to worry now would you?" he asked and popped out.

"I don't give a damn what 'Zel-kun' thinks," she grumbled to herself but got out of the bath anyways. Going to put her clothes on she noticed that the no longer were scratched. As soon as she was done Xelloss popped in again.

"Ready to go yet?" he asked in a chipper voice.

"How did you know I was done changing?" she asked suspiciously.

"Uh, I just did."

"You were watching, weren't you?" she threatened dangerously.

"No I wasn't," he said quickly. "It was just that, uh, just that… I had a motion detector on your clothes and when you picked them up it told me. I waited a couple minutes and then popped in."

"That's not how motion detectors work and you don't even have them in your world."

"Well it's time to go back now!" 

"Xello--" she didn't have time to finish the rest for they had already popped out. 

          When she opened her eyes she saw that they were in the same field as before only it was much more burnt then she remembered it and her friends were all there.

"Did we do that?" she asked Xelloss. At the sound of her voice everyone looked up and cried in unison, "Kami!"

"We thought you were dead," Zel cried and jumped to his feet. 

"Why would yo--" she was interrupted as Zel grabbed her and kissed her. She opened her eyes wide in shock, this was literally the most emotion she had ever seen Zel show, and the fact that it was over her had her overjoyed. She immediately forgot that she was mad at him and gave him a big hug and kissed him back. They stopped suddenly when they heard Lina clearing her throat behind them.

"I think you two had better explain," she said sternly. Kami said quietly to Zel, "I guess we went by your idea to tell them."

"What idea?" he asked then remembered what he had said in the field.

"I guess so," he replied. They then explained to Lina-tachi all that had been going on the last months. 

End of Part I

(1) Remember, Kami's Japanese.

(2)  Sorry if that was hard to understand. Speaking from much experience I know what it's like reading from a foreign alphabet.  


	9. Talk about obsessive

*Author's Notes* Well, it's about time that I finally finished writing this. I apologise for taking so long, it's just that my cat (whom I love like a brother) recently got extremely ill so I've been spending most of my free time with him and also my gerbil died. On a different note, I know Amelia is OOC in this chap but I didn't want to deal with the usual whiny, snively, I-didn't-get-Zelgadiss so I just made her deal with it. Sorry if that upsets you. Anyways, on with the fic!

I am Not a Prisoner, Chapter 8 Part 2

*Disclaimer* (I almost forgot!) With the exception of Kami, these characters are not mine. (Very simply said.)

          "Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!! It's the Enemy of All Who Live and her PIT!!" yelled a man who, had he not been crying and screaming not unlike a terrified little girl, at one point of time might have looked intimidating. 

          "Stop calling me that!!" Lina and Kami cried in unison. It had been around a month since Kami and Zel had confessed to being 'together' to Lina-tachi. Since then, they kept on with their relationship (Zel now willing to call it so) this time more in public. Although both were extremely shy it never was very explicit. 

          Another thing that had transgressed during the last month was Kami had joined Lina in some of her bandit raids, albeit only a couple. Unfortunately (for Kami at least), word spreads fast when one works with Bandit Killer Lina Inverse (unless said word happens to be anything positive about the sorceress, like saving the world from total and utter darkness on numerous occasions. Minor facts and details like that happen to be ignored and/or forgotten). Once word had gotten around that another fiery female (this one fully clothed…*cough* Naga *cough, cough*) was working with the Bandit Killer, the outlaws had quickly dubbed her Lina's Partner In Torture (or PIT).

          "I swear I'll kill the next person who calls me that!" Lina exclaimed while going through today's 'earnings'. She had already blasted that particular bandit and his hideout until there was nothing but charred remains. 

          "I'd rather be the Enemy of All Who Live the someone's pit!" Kami exclaimed just as loudly. 

The group was sitting randomly around tonight's camp. Even though it was just shortly after dinner and still light out, they decided that they were in no hurry and just lounged around. "Although it's _almost_ worth it if I can blast their sorry asses from here to the next continent."

          Amelia was doing a lot better then Zel had expected her to be. _It was only a crush,_ she thought to herself, _he doesn't care for me in that way, I can live with that. At least for now…._ After hearing Kami's last statement she thought, _Lina-san has corrupted Kami-san from the true and noble path of Justice. She's doing that to us all these days…_ Frowning, the princess decided to devout the rest of her night on figuring out how to 'un-corrupt' the members of the group. 

          Lina and Zel were currently absorbed in conversation, discussing some magic thingy-ma-bopper that neither Gourry nor Kami really understood or cared for. Yawning loudly and rather rudely, Gourry announced his plans to go to bed.

          "Good idea, Gou-kun," Kami said. "I think I'll go to bed too. Oyasumi Lina, Zel-san, Xel-kun, Amelia, Gou-kun," she said and headed towards the female tent. She entered after she heard their replies, changed, laid out her bedroll and fell asleep listening to the sounds of the crackling fire and people murmuring. 

          Xelloss stared listlessly at the fire. Without a major crisis happening, he found hanging around with Lina-tachi wasn't quite as fun. He could still tease everyone—and he did—but without the added stress and the pain the battles brought it wasn't the same. Xelloss glanced in the direction Kami had gone and smiled his mischievous, genki smile. _Soon the fun will start again. Soon. Until then, let's have some fun with the princess… _he thought and popped in right behind Amelia.

          "BOO!!" he yelled, gathering attention from the others and he grabbed her quickly. She emitted a strangled scream and fought furiously for freedom (look, unintentional alliteration, ::proud grin::), still unaware as to whom her assailant was. Letting go as quickly as he had latched on, Xel plomped on the ground beside her.

          "Konban wa, Amelia," he said cheerfully. Still getting over the initial shock of being groped so suddenly she replied rather slowly,

          "What was that for?"

          "You looked lonely, so I decided to say hello."

          "That's not how you greet people!"

          "It could be."

          "No, no it isn't."

          "Are you discriminating other people's way of greeting each other? I don't think that's very just. And you call yourself a champion of Justice, bah!" he said mock-angrily.

          "Wait that's not it! I didn't mean it like that."

          "You can't even own up to your mistakes too. You're a completely different person from the Amelia I thought I knew. I'm so ashamed. I don't even want to be near you," he said and phased in next to Lina.

          "Drama Queen," Zelgadiss muttered. 

          "Ugh, I'm going to bed," Amelia said, giving up her battle with Xelloss, realising that there wasn't a way she could win against him in a battle of words (*AN* or any battle for that matter).  Xel pouted, he wasn't happy his game for this evening gave in so quickly. _The youth of today…_ he thought disappointedly.                            

          Xelloss laid down against the cold, hard earth, enjoying the feel of a rather nasty rock as it embedded itself in his spine and he gazed at the stars. _As soon as Juu-ou-sama gives her word, the fun can begin._

          The next morning Lina surprised herself (and eventually everyone else once they were up) by being the first awake. After crawling soundlessly from the tent she crouched down by the fire pit to start a fire. After the kindling was aflame she added a larger piece of wood then hung a pot over the blaze. She sat back a bit and watched and listened to the flames crackle and tickle the bottom of the suspending pot. She thought vaguely thought of how strangely soothing this was. So absorbed in her own little world was she that she didn't even realise it when the blond swordsman had exited his tent and sat down beside her. When he called her name she nearly jumped out of her skin.

          "Gourry you moron, what do you think you're doing scaring a girl like that?" she yelled while grabbing the clueless swordsman into a crushing headlock. 

          "Can't……breath!" he gasped. He continued when she loosened her hold, " I was just wondering what you were doing, being so quiet and all."

          "I was just boiling some water so I could have something warm to drink," she exclaimed. 

          "Really? I didn't notice," Gourry said, slightly perplexed.

          "You knucklehead," she sighed. "You want some coffee or tea or somethin'?" she inquired. 

          "Naw, food'd be nice though."

          "If I had food you think I'd offer it to you?"

          "You've got a point…" Before they could continue Amelia and Kami exited the girl's tent at almost the exact same time Zel and Xel exited the men's tent (wonder what they were doing ::evil grin::. No! I will not make this yaoi or yuri, this is my only het fic, no yaoi!). 

          "Good timing," Gourry said, pointing out the obvious. 

          "It's kind of hard to stay asleep with you two arguing," Zel said matter-of-factly. 

           "Yeah, what were you guys doing up so early anyways," Amelia asked. 

          "Dunno, just woke up early," was Lina's intelligent reply. 

          "Looks like it'll be really hot today," Kami said out of the blue as she was looking over the horizon at the early morning sun. "You guys wanna go swimming in that lake a little ways back, it'll make traveling later less uncomfortable," she proposed. 

          "Sure!" was Amelia's enthusiastic reply.

          "Why not?" Lina said. After looking uncertainly at Lina, Gourry replied, "Okay, sounds great!"

          "Xelloss, Zel-san?" Kami inquired with a raise of her eyebrow.

          "Of course," agreed Xelloss as if not joining wasn't even an option. Zel, on the other hand, wasn't quite as enthusiastic.

          "I don't think so," he stated.

          "Come on!" Lina chastised.

          "No, I still have to have my coffee, I think I'll wait here." Seeing there was no way to convince him otherwise, the group changed into bathing suits (Kami changed into her old uniform—it did the job) and was just about to head for the lake when Xelloss said, "Ne Kami-chan, don't forget to take of your necklace, you wouldn't want it to get lost would you?"

          "Thanks Xel-kun," she said. "Zel-san, since you're not going, could you watch this for me?"

          "Sure."

          "Thank you!" and with that, they headed for the lake.

          Zel was leaning against a stump with his head tilted upwards and a cup of steaming coffee in hand when Lina-tachi rounded the corner and returned to the camp. Just by taking a quick glance at everyone's facial expressions was glad he hadn't accompanied them. Lina's face was quite red and Zelgadiss could swear he saw steam coming out of her ears. Xelloss had a slightly smug grin that could rival the Cheshire Cat's and Gourry seemed to have more bruises then when he left. Amelia was pouting and tagging along a bit in behind and Kami looked uncomfortable and kept on looking from Lina to Xelloss to Gourry then to Amelia. Zel's guess at what had happened was the Xelloss 'by mistake' happened to walk by while Lina was changing and saw her in the nude. Gourry had probably said something like there wasn't much to see anyways and that comment resulted in a beating. Amelia probably tried to save Gourry and got blasted with a wave of Lina's anger. Kami wasn't sure what to do or who to speak to without being accused of siding. Zel smiled smugly at himself for being able to figure it out. He got up from the tree he was leaning against before Lina walked by and said loudly, "We better start packing up if we don't want to be stuck walking in the blistering afternoon. It won't be the least bit pleasurable if we can't find shade when the heat reaches its zenith," she paused then added, "well, maybe for _you,_" she said and glared at Xelloss.

          The group traveled down a long and dusty road that lead to the next town they planned to visit. With the exception of Amelia, who was still sulking, they chatted idly about random topics. When the group stopped for their midday break everyone settled down for a little rest. 

          "Oh damn, as the time passes I keep forgetting to try to go home," Kami said to Xelloss, who happened to be the person sitting next to her.           "Why bother, it's pretty obvious that you're not going to be able to go home, so why even try?" the priest asked rather pessimistically. 

          "Xelloss! Don't say that, although recently I do feel that way. But I have to keep trying," she replied.

          "You sound like the princess."       

          "I resent that!" Amelia shouted from a corner.

          "Non sono reus," Kami said with an extremely bored tone of voice. Zel stiffened, preparing himself for the expected arrival onto his lap. When Kami didn't go anywhere they both blinked.

          "Eh?" Was Kami's response. 

          "Non sono reus!" she repeated. Still, nothing happened.

          "Non sono reus, non sono reus, NON. SONO. REUS!" By this time, the entire group's attention was focused on Kami.

          "What the hell?" Zel and Lina said. 

          "Why isn't it working?" Kami said, not sure whether to yell or cry.           "Don't worry, Kami," Zel said in an attempt to calm her down. "Here's your necklace, I forgot to give it back once you finished swimming, sorry," he said, trying to take her mind of the current enigma.           "Thanks," she said dejectedly and hung it around her neck. "Why didn't it work? It's worked for the last five months, why stop now?" she questioned. Kami was filled with inner turmoil. _I don't even know why this is bothering me so much. I realised that I'll prolly never be able to go home but still…do I even want to now? I'm happy with Lina-tachi, happier than I was at home. In the short time I've known them they've become better friends than my old ones. But I miss mum, dad, Hayashi, Tomokazu, and Tanja so much. Gods, I don't know what to do, _she thought. Deciding to try for a final time she quietly mumbled the words. To her surprise she felt the familiar dizzy sensation of being sucked from this world and then the hard thump when she fell on Zelgadiss' stone body. Zel let out a surprised yelp and they both went plummeting to the ground. She had landed more or less on his head since he had been standing at the time. Slowly (and reluctantly) she detangled herself from Zel all the while porting an extremely puzzled expression.

          "What just happened?" Lina asked.

          "You're asking me?" Kami replied.

          "Try again, maybe it was just a fluke," Amelia suggested.

          "No! Don--" Zel tried to warn but it was too late. He had been in the process of getting up when Kami chanted the spell and landed, causing them both to crash down again. Zel let out a pained groan. 

          "Why is it suddenly working again?" Gourry inquired. 

          "It must be the necklace," Zel mumbled from his pile on the ground. (*AN* Yes, I do realise the necklace thing is the epitome of tacky. I truly do apologize.) 

          "Makes sense," Lina added. "Can I see it?"

          "Sure," Kami replied and handed the necklace over to Lina. She brought it close to her face and flipped it around several times before declaring, "It just looks like a normal tear-drop shaped pendant."

          "Try without and then with it on," Amelia requested. 

          "Do you want me to lose the little bit of lunch I managed to steal from Lina and Gourry? You have no idea how dizzy doing this makes me," Kami exclaimed. 

          "It's the only way we can see if the necklace is a contributing factor to your ability to travel dimensions," Lina stated. 

          "Fine," Kami grumbled. "You ready Zel-san?" she asked then after his nod she chanted the words. Sure enough, she didn't go anywhere. 

          "The necklace, please," Kami asked Lina. Not even bothering to put it around her neck, Kami mumbled a quick non sono reus and poof, she found herself on Zel. 

          "We've got one mystery cleared up," Amelia exclaimed cheerfully. 

          "And about fifty new ones unanswered," always the pessimist, Zel added.   

          "Oh joy," Lina said sarcastically, "looks like we have another quest."

          "Where do we start?" Kami inquired.

          "That's a good question, I have no idea," Lina replied. 

          "We're looking for someone who has to know a great deal about dimension travel," Amelia thought aloud.

          "Or someone who specializes in stones," Xelloss suggested coyly. Everyone looked up at him since it was the first time he'd said anything for a while. 

          "What are you hinting at, Mazoku?" Lina questioned him suspiciously. All Xelloss did was smile innocently. 

          "I know someone," Zelgadiss said slowly. "He specializes in stones and his name is Sugi. I worked with him for about a year when I was with Rezo. I don't know if we really want to see him though…"

          "Would he know anything about Kami's necklace?" Lina asked.

          "Maybe, bu--"

          "No buts! Where is he?"

          "About two weeks travel from here, near the border to the other world," Zel replied cautiously.                                                                           "Then lead the way, Zel!" Lina demanded. Zelgadiss complied for he was in no mood to be the recipient of one of Lina's fireballs. However, that did not stop him from bitterly cursing every god he'd ever heard of. Taking one good look at the people in his group, Zel thought, Why_ the hell do I have to see Sugi again? I should have never said anything!_

  


	10. Enter Sugi and Kathy. Ooh, look at all t...

*Author's Notes* Wow, I'm sorry for being so uber late with this chapter. It's kinda funny really, I had this all done then ff.net went down and after if came back up was doing a little proofing and got a much better idea on how to end it. So I had to rewrite a majority of this bloody story. But I am much happier with it this way. Anyway, on with the fic!

Disclaimer: I'm assuming if you're reading this then you've read the other chapters. I have said on numerous accounts that I do not own the Slayers cast. If you believe I do, then you are an enormous, genuine dumbass. Kami, Sugi, and Kathy were born from the depths of my limited imagination, so I'd appreciate that you do not use them without asking me first. Have a lovely day. 

Chapter 9. 

The group arrived in the town where Sugi was currently residing about two weeks from where we left off. For the entire trip, Zelgadiss would not stop constantly grumbling and muttering under his breath and cursing his existence. The grumbles and protests got progressively louder each day and as they were entering the town he was practically yelling them.

 "You DO NOT want to meet this man! Believe you me, you don't want to meet him!" Zel cried, trying desperately to deter his friends from encountering Sugi.

"You've been saying this the entire trip yet you still continue to lead the way. He can't be that bad," Kami stated rather irritably. 

"You want to bet?" Zel said indignantly. 

"Stop acting like a baby Zel and take us there," Lina demanded. She was inwardly surprised at Zel's protests though. Zelgadiss didn't often show much emotion with the exception of anger and angst, and his recent childish protests and pouting was an entirely new side of him. She would have laughed had his behaviour not been incredibly annoying. 

"Fine, but I don't want to hear one complaint from anyone after you meet him. Not one!" he exclaimed as he took off rather quickly into the busy city. The rest of the group had to practically jog to keep up with him. 

Zelgadiss led them through many busy streets that were crowded with peasants and merchants. The group elicited many stares from the townsfolk, for not too often did they see people (with the exception of Zelgadiss and his dull tan apparel) so extravagantly dressed. However their surprise quickly diminished once they realised which direction the band of foreigners were heading, and then they only frowned slightly and kept up their work. 

Zel stopped at the end of a particularly dark and trashy street to wait for the others to catch up. Once they were all together again he motioned to the group to round the corner. He took a deep breath and thought rather bitterly, _We're here…_

 Like a grapefruit in a field of tomatoes, there stood Sugi's mansion. However, it wasn't the actual structure that held the band of travelers in a state of stupefied wonder, it was the giant neon sign that hung over it's doors. 

"S- Sugi's House Of Love……" Kami said slowly.

"What the hell…." was Lina's contribution.

"Come on, let's go inside so we can get this over with," stated Zel.

"….kinda place is this?" Lina continued. 

"It's Sugi's mansion," Zel replied.

"It's a brothel!" shouted Amelia.

"I don't want to hear one complaint, remember?!" and with that, Zel headed towards the entrance. The others followed nervously. 

The sight they were greeted with was more astounding then the sign. Inside the……reception room was a harem of mainly women, but also a couple men.  Zelgadiss walked briskly to the reception desk and told the pretty middle aged woman there, "I'd like to see Sugi."  
          "I'm sorry sir," she said without looking up from the papers she was working on, "but you cannot see him unless you have an appointment."  
          "Kathy," he said, getting her attention, "tell him it's Zelgadiss."

"Zelgadiss?" she said in wonder, "take off that hood so I can see you better." Zel obliged.

"It is you! Haven't found your cure yet, I see," she said excitedly. Her gaze now fell on the group behind him who had been watching the previous event with amusement and curiosity. "Those your friends?" she asked and he nodded. "Well, Sugi's occupied at the moment but I'm sure," she said then let her gaze fall on the entourage of men and women in the room, "that you guys can amuse yourselves until he's ready." At Zel's look of utter horror she laughed and said, "You haven't changed a bit, don't worry, I was only kidding. In the back room, you remember how do get there, don't you? There's plenty of snacks and books. Help yourselves and I'll come by when Sugi's free."

Zel led them to the back room with Lina and Gourry practically on his heels, the mention of snacks the only thing on their minds. Once there, Amelia and Kami chose out a couple books and sat down to read while Gourry, Lina, and surprisingly Zelgadiss sat down and started eating.    

          A couple hours passed and Sugi had still not graced the group with his presence. Mostly everyone had fallen asleep, some on the couch some leaning against the wall on the floor. Kami was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her shoulders hunched forward and her head resting in her hands. She was trying to remember every detail of that night when she had been transported here, to see if she could figure out what exactly happened. She knew that her necklace and the words non sono reus played an important factor, but something was missing. _Okay, lets, for the hundredth time, replay the events of that night. Went to library, got book. Picked up book, looked at cover, pages and bookmark, started working. Saw picture. Read words and poof, hello Zel-san. That's about it. What the bloody hell am I missing!?! _She sighed loudly and frowned, letting her frustration show a little. It was then that she felt the strong and familiar arms of Zelgadiss wrap around her.

"My, aren't we being bold," she teased him.

          "Bah, everybody's asleep," he replied in a relaxed tone of voice.

          "Oh, so you're ashamed to be around me when people are conscious?" she said with mock accusation. 

          "N-no! That's not what I meant!" he said hastily.

          "Relax, I'm just kidding, Zel-san."

          "You don't have to be so formal you know."

          "Hmm? Oh, that. I like calling you Zel-san, no one else does. They call you Zel or Zelgadiss-san, and in Xelloss' case Zel-kun. It's original. You don't mind, do you?"

          "No, I just thought it odd, that's all."

          "We haven't had much time together recently, have we?" she said, changing the topic.

          "No, we haven't. All that traveling, no one's had time to relax. Look how quick they passed out."

          "They fall asleep that quickly all the time," she said flatly, then smiled. 

          "Yeah, I guess so. But--" he was cut off by his own surprise, when he felt Kami turn around so that they were face-to-face, kiss his nose, then snuggle into his chest and emit a loud yawn. 

          "Sorry ta cut you off **yawn** Zel-san, but I'm really sleepy. Just let me rest for a minute…" she said as she gently lowered her eyelids and her breathing fell steady. Zel paused slightly, then wrapped his arms lightly around her back and closed his eyes too. 

          "Goodnight, ladies. It was a pleasure seeing you again, as always," an immensely tall man said as he walked out a door. You could hear the aforementioned ladies giving replies of giggles and such. The man strut down a long hallway before entering the 'lobby' of his building and approaching Kathy, who sat behind her desk scribbling away on some papers.

          "Hello, Kathy. Ever the diligent worker, I see," the man stated with a sly voice and a grin.

          "It's what you pay me for, sir," she replied, looking up from her papers and mirroring his smile.

          "But you should have fun! Preferably with me," the man almost whined, although he kept his grin. Kathy sighed, having gone through this discussion on almost a nightly basis.

          "I would prefer to have my 'fun' at home with my husband."

          "Ah, such a stick in the mud! But nevertheless, I'll soon woo you over to me, using only my ultimate charm and gorgeous looks. It's a mystery on how you've resisted me so far!" he said dramatically.

          "Perhaps it was your massive ego, sir." He just looked at the woman he'd been working with for over ten years and smiled. 

          "Anything new happen tonight?" he asked, changing the subject. 

          "Ah yes. You won't believe who came stalking through our front door."

"Shabranigdo?" he offered.

"Yes, it was the demon lord himself. Of course not! Bah, what a stupid comment. It was Zelgadiss, you remember him, the priest's grandson?"

The man smiled. That was one of the reasons he had originally hired Kathy. She was a hard worker and was never afraid to speak her mind. Over the years they had developed a strong friendship.

"Of course I remember Zelgadiss. He worked with us for….what was it, a year or two?"

"Year and a half actually. Him and a group of people who he says are friends are in waiting room A."

"Did he mention why he came?"

"No, he just stalked in here, then demanded to see you. Took me by surprise, he did."

"He never was one for tact and subtlety."

"And you are?"  
 "That's besides the point. How long have they been waiting? It is quite late out."

"Um…..about three and a half hours." 

"Hmmm, okay. I'll go see them now. And Kathy? You should go home now, your husband's probably waiting. Don't bother coming to work tomorrow; you've been here quite late all this week, so you should spend the day with you family. Goodnight!" he said and walked down the hall to waiting room A.

"Goodnight, Sugi!" she called after him. 

The group rose with a start to the deep voice of Sugi shouting, "Raise and shine!" After the initial blanket of sleep wore of and they were more aware they rose to great him.

"He….he's beautiful…."muttered Amelia who had stars in her eyes.

"**That's** what a prince should look like," Lina commented. Sugi flashed the women a bright grin and tossed his long hair over his shoulder. "Good evening ladies," he said, slowly eyeing up the women, "gentlemen," he said, giving a nod to the men. "Ah, Zelgadiss. It's been a while, neh? So what's new?"

"Nothing." Zelgadiss replied flatly.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me?" Sugi questioned.

"Uh, yeah. This is Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Kami, and Xelloss," he practically growled the latter's name.

"Yare yare, Zel-kun, what did I do?"  
          "Your presence is enough to offend me."

"Ooh, harsh Zel-san, that was uncalled for," Kami scolded.

"He deserves it!"

"Excuse me?" Sugi asked, slightly miffed at being ignored. "Is there a particular reason you've decided to come Zelgadiss or *laugh* did you decide to be sociable." Lina smiled at how well Sugi seemed to know Zelgadiss. Zel just scowled and brushed it off.

"Yes, there is a reason," Zel said and proceeded to explain Kami's and the group's situation.

"So all she says are some words in a foreign tongue, then poof she disappears momentarily and then comes back? The necklace is tied in somehow? Can I see a demonstration?" Kami and Zel both nodded their heads. 

"Ready, Zel-san?" Kami questioned.

"Hai!" he responded after situating himself on the couch. Sugi was frowning in concentration as he paid close attention to Kami. After they were done he sat down on a nearby chair and started thinking. 

"Hmmm," he said after a couple minutes of silence, "may I see your necklace?"

"Sure," Kami replied and handed it to him.

"I thought so," he said slowly. "The gem inside is part of the Staff of Gods," he declared.

"What?!" everyone cried in unison (Well, except Kami, she just looked mildly confused).

"The Staff of Gods?!" Lina practically yelled. "So is this a major power amplifier?"

"No. Let me explain something about the Staff of Gods. Now, the average person has heard of it, and they know that its pieces are extremely powerful. More powerful and serious sorcerers know of the amplifying powers **some **of it contains. However very few people know that there are two sections of the Staff of Gods. There is the part that amplifies power, and although they are the utmost of rare objects on this planet there is something rarer. That is the other part of the Staff, the part that seals and unseals power. That is what Kami's necklace is."

The group was rather shocked by what Sugi had said and it took them a while to respond. 

"How did part of the Staff of Gods get into Kami's world?" Amelia asked.

"Beats me!" Sugi replied. During his whole serious speech he had slowly been moving closer to the girls. "What do you think, Lina-chan?" he said, and let his hand cup her behind.

"HENTAI!!!!" she screamed. "FIREBALL, MONOBOLT, FREEZE ARROW!!" When the cloud of smoke disappeared there stood Sugi, without even a wrinkle in his clothes. 

"Now now, no explosives in the waiting room," he chastised. Lina was just seething. If one looked hard enough they could probably see smoke emerging from her ears. "What the hell do you think you're doing!!!!? You don't go groping innocent young girls, even if they are immensely beautiful and powerful sorceresses!!" she yelled. Nobody decide to comment on the 'innocent, beautiful girl' part. 

"Uh, back to my necklace," Kami said, changing the subject and stepping a bit further from Lina, "How did this power my necklace contains get me here?"

"I'm not incredibly sure. I think that there might be some sort of……seal between our worlds. Your necklace is simply unsealing each time you say whatever those words were.

"Non sono reus?" she offered without really thinking.

"Wai—oof!" Zelgadiss said then landed hard on the ground in a matter very unbecoming. 

"Wasn't the brightest thing I've done," Kami grumbled while fighting down nausea. 

"But why can't she stay in her world?" Amelia asked.

"I don't think her necklace has enough power to keep her there."

"So it would need an amplifier!" Zel said, catching on to Sugi's train of thought. 

"Yes, but not an ordinary amplifier, not even one as strong as the demon blood amplifiers that miss Inverse over here has," Sugi said. 

"You know who we are?" Lina asked, her anger currently forgotten. 

"Of course. You, are Lina Inverse. He is Gourry Gabriev, yielder or the Sword of Light. She is Amelia Wil Tesla Sailloon. Ah, and there's Xelloss Metallium, oh don't look at me like that, I'm not ignorant enough to be fooled by your disguise. I make sure I know about who enters my building. You're all quite an infamous group."

Kami didn't much care that he knew who her friends were; she just wanted to learn more about how she got here. "So an amplifier's needed eh?"

"Yes, can you think of what you had with you while you first read the words?" Sugi asked.

"Hmmm, I had my bag, which just had a pen and a notebook, my old uniform, and that book. Could it have been the amplifier?"

"No, it needs to be a stone of some sort. Are you sure their weren't any strange stones around?"

"Uh, no I don't think so…wait!! It was that friggn' bookmark! I knew something was missing. I just can't believe it was so simple!" At the others' perplexed looked she sighed and explained, "In the book there was this bookmark. It had this intricate design with many different small stones on it. Those were the only stones there so I'm sure they were the amplifier. But how the bloody hell did all this get into my world?"

"Who knows, sometimes mysteries can't be explained," Xelloss offered. "Or they can be secrets!" he added cheerfully. 

"So, I can't get back without another amplifier like that, can I?" Kami asked slowly.

"No, I'm pretty sure you can't," Sugi said compassionately. Lina walked over to the distressed girl and put an arm around her and drew he into a hug.

"It's okay, really," Kami said as a tear slid down her cheek, "it just sounds so final. I love you guys so much but it still hurts to know I'll never be able to see my family again." 

The group was at a loss to say. Deciding that actions were better than words they all went and gave her a giant group hug.

Kami stiffened then shouted, "GET YOUR HAND OFF MY BREAST, SUGI!!!!"

End. 


End file.
